How to see the best of Kolkata Durga Puja in one night
One night, one part of the city, the metro both ways and a route you plan before you leave. A practical plan for Saptami, Ashtami or Navami.
Most people who come back from a night of pandal hopping disappointed made the same mistake: they tried to see the whole city. Kolkata has hundreds of pujas, the famous ones are spread from Dum Dum to Naktala, and on the peak nights the roads between them close from the afternoon. The way to see a lot is to see one part of the city properly.
1. Pick one part of the city
Choose a zone and stay in it. Each has a different character, and each can fill a night on its own.
- North Kolkata: the old city. Bagbazar, Kumartuli, Ahiritola, the Sovabazar Rajbari and the Hatibagan cluster, all within walking distance of the Blue Line. The best choice if you want heritage pujas and theme pandals in one walk.
- South Kolkata: the big theme pujas. The Kalighat and Rashbehari cluster (Deshapriya Park, Tridhara, 66 Pally, Badamtala Ashar Sangha) and the Gariahat cluster (Ekdalia Evergreen, Singhi Park, Hindustan Park). The biggest crowds and the most ambitious pandals.
- Central Kolkata: College Square, Mohammad Ali Park and Santosh Mitra Square. Few pujas, but three of the most-visited in the city, close to MG Road and Sealdah.
- Salt Lake: block pujas on wide, planned streets. The easiest night for families, older parents and small children, with the Green Line running through it.
2. Go early or go late
The worst time to be at a famous pandal is between about 7 pm and midnight on Saptami, Ashtami and Navami, when queues at the biggest pujas can run past an hour. Two windows are much better: the afternoon, from about 2 pm, before the evening crowd arrives; and after 1 am, when the families have gone home and the metro is still running.
If you can only go out one night, Panchami or Shashthi is a reasonable choice too. Most pandals are finished by then, the crowds are a fraction of the peak, and you will see the themes before the lights and the crush take over.
3. Use the metro, not a car
From Saptami to Navami the Blue and Green Lines run through the night: the Blue Line from 1 pm until about 4 am, the Green Line from 1:30 pm until just before 4 am. Roads around the big pandals close to traffic from about 3 or 4 pm, so a cab will drop you at a barricade, not at the pandal, and parking on the main routes is banned. Take the metro to the nearest station and walk.
4. Be realistic about numbers
Six to ten pandals is a good night. Three or four of those will be the famous ones with long queues; the rest are neighbourhood pujas on the way, which are often the nicest part of the walk. Trying for twenty means spending the night in queues and on the road.
5. Plan the route before you leave
Tick the pandals you want on the Pujo map and it puts them in walking order, with the distance between each and the nearest metro. Share the route with your group before you set out: the phone network near the big pandals is often jammed, and it is much easier to agree on a plan at home than to find each other in a crowd.
6. What to carry
- Comfortable shoes. You will walk several kilometres, much of it standing in queues.
- Water and a little cash. Small stalls and some food vendors prefer cash, and UPI can fail when the network is jammed.
- A charged phone and a power bank, with your route opened once before you leave so it works offline.
- For children: a card in their pocket with your phone number, and a meeting point agreed at every pandal.
And eat on the way. Every big pandal has a food lane around it, and a phuchka stop between queues does more for the evening than any amount of planning.