There is office to attend to, there is school to go to, and amidst all this, there is Durga Puja. A Bengali community in Berlin is juggling work, their children’s schools, and a Puja celebration in the middle of a regular work week.

From Bodhan on Sashthi to bidding adieu to the Goddess and her entourage on Dashami, the community might be thousands of kilometres away from Calcutta, but the rituals, timings of worship, and the paraphernalia are followed elaborately and sincerely.

The priest has been flown in from Calcutta to Berlin, and the idol travels from the artisans’ hub in Kumartuli.

This Bengali community has been celebrating Durga Puja in the German capital since 1975, with a two-year pause during the Covid pandemic.

“When my parents came here as immigrants in the 1960s, they were looking for an association. The Bengalis came together, built a network of their own, and organised Durga Puja for the first time in 1975,” said Asit Dutta, secretary of Namaste Berlin, the association that organises the puja.

It started in a small room and has grown in size and magnitude over the years. Back then, it used to be the only Durga Puja in Berlin. This year, there are about four.

The baton was passed to the next generation in 2010.

“We are carrying on the legacy of what our parents and their friends started,” said Dutta.

Many Bengalis settled outside India — or even outside Calcutta — miss the noise and excitement of Puja.

In Calcutta, Puja is about community bonding, aesthetics, and a display of art and culture.

“In Berlin, we are trying to maintain the tradition and carry out the puja in a manner as close as possible to the original, following the rituals as much as we can. One of our objectives is that our kids should be well aware of it,” said association member Subhajit Sarkar.

For Shalmoli Kundu, who moved to Germany in 2011, Puja is a “personal and homely affair.”

“From the decor to preparing the bhog — it’s all done by us. We prepare a roster because not everyone can take leave from work, so we divide the work among ourselves,” said Kundu.

“Our puja might not be as glitzy and glamorous as one in Calcutta, but it is personal and close to our hearts. We just get a room and have to do everything ourselves, starting from scratch. We take turns to do all the puja work, and we do it with utmost devotion,” said Kundu.