Streets aglitter, tall edifices and tiny homes resplendent with lights, sweets flying fast off the shelves, a sky shimmering with fireworks — and a lot of unwanted noise from crackers that should not have been allowed.
A variety of lights hung from balconies and terraces. Star-shaped strings, curtain lights, lantern-style fixtures and different types of LED chains, many of them Chinese and trusted over the years, were among the most visible ones.
A Ballygunge resident decorated his living room with a Chinese diya that lit up when floated in water. “It has water-sensitive batteries. It made the room look warm without raising safety concerns,” he said.
At many homes, Goddess Kali was being worshipped following rituals. At many, it was Lakshmi. Many fasted since morning and ate only after offering anjali to the deity.
A Kali Puja pandal on BT Road, near Dunlop
And many, many more celebrated with good food, friendship and music.
A serpentine queue of devotees went up to the sanctum sanctorum of the Kalighat temple around 7pm. Police personnel and sevaits at the temple said the line would extend beyond the gate as the night grew.
Pradip Biswas, 56, a Howrah resident, came to Kalighat with his family. “We come to the Kalighat temple every year on Kali Puja. From here, we will visit some popular Kali Puja pandals and return home around midnight,” he said around 6pm.
Traditional favourites as well as assorted trays of sweets sold fast. Rohit Gupta of Gupta Brothers told Metro: “Kaju katli, badam barfi, soan papdi and laddu have been the traditional favourites. There is solid demand for assorted trays with dry fruits and sweets. Many are opting for customised hampers, choosing what they want. Even baklava is a popular item to go in the assortment.”
Sudip Mullick of Balaram Mullick and Radharaman Mullick said: “We had prepared around 5,500 assorted trays of sweets and savouries. The entire stock is finished.”
But the sound demon reared its unwanted head with full strength amid all the fun and joy.
The noise of crackers was heard across the city from around noon on Monday, with the frequency and intensity going up as the evening dusked.
A Calcutta High Court order, issued in 2023, restricted the use of firecrackers to a two-hour window — 8pm to 10pm — on Diwali. Kolkata Police issued a notification on Friday reiterating the two-hour window. “Authorised green firecrackers can be displayed/discharged during the ensuing Kali Puja and Deepawali festivals on 20.10.2025 from 8pm till 10pm only,” stated the notification signed by Calcutta’s police commissioner Manoj Verma.
But many appeared nonchalant.
A resident of Kasba in the east said he had bought crackers worth over ₹10,000 from a cracker hub in South 24-Parganas and faced no checks.
A resident of Behala in the west had the same experience.
Both thought bursting crackers was “okay”, never mind the noise.
Enforcement, evidently, had taken a backseat.
“The noise was relentless and the sound was coming from all sides,” said an elderly resident of Haltu in Kasba.
A woman reported uninterrupted sounds of firecrackers in Bhowanipore and Kalighat around 6pm.
There were many crackers bursting along Central Avenue, too. “It was deafening,” said a woman who lives on Ganesh Chandra Avenue.
In 2023, the state government raised the permissible noise limit for green crackers from 90 decibels to 125 decibels, measured at a distance of 4 metres from the point of bursting.
Till around 7pm, Kolkata Police had received over 45 complaints about crackers. Most of the complaints were from Netajinagar, Bansdroni and other areas in the south suburban division, an officer at the Kolkata Police headquarters said.
The state pollution control board (PCB) received seven complaints between 5pm and 7.30pm on Monday. “The complaints came from Baguiati, New Town, Tollygunge, Betor, Noapara, Titagarh and Barasat,” said Kalyan Rudra, the chairperson of the state PCB.
