Just back from Sonai Road, both Tarun Sangha and Rakhi Sangha are amazing, says Adrish Purkayastha

One large gate, made of led lights with national flag on top of it welcomed me. We moved a  little ahead and then my father parked his Activa right next to the entrance of Rakhi Sangha. Finding a spot to park the two wheeler was not difficult at all. We entered the pandal. The land beneath our feet was damp rather muddy. We chapped chapped our way inside and the Purohit (Pandit) was busy preparing for Sashti Puja. The pandal, like always was huge in size and very well decorated. The idols too were very well made.

Tough I was tempted to wait and take some Prasad, I agreed to exit the Pandal and head towards the Tarun Sangha Puja. After all my father had a long day at office and he was tired. When we reach Tarun Sangha, I was awestruck. A giant structure made of bamboo was glazing as diamond does under lights. While my father walked ahead I stood still and stared at the pandal for a while. He shouted, ‘chal’ and I walked in. Like the pandal, the idols too are a huge attraction. While I read online about only-mud idols, I never thought it would look so good. Tarun Sangha will certainly give a tough fight to each and every contesting for both best Pratima (idol) and Pandal.

As we were walking out, someone announced the name of Swami Baikuntananda Maharaj and my father stopped. While, I did not understand initially what the announcement was, after sometime I gathered that the Maharaj of Silchar Ramakrishna Mission was arriving to inaugurate the pandal. Within minutes he came and graced the opening ceremony. Kids were already on the stage and as the Maharaj left, the cultural programme kicked off.

While returning back at around 6:30 pm, the roads got crowded and we did find some traffic on our way to Tarapur. Overall, under lights, Sonai road is a beautiful place to be. I must say my first day pandal hopping had a great start.