Salt Lake pandal hopping: the easy night out
Wide roads, footpaths, block pujas a few minutes apart and the Green Line in the middle. The best part of the city for families.
Salt Lake (Bidhannagar) holds its Durga Puja block by block. Each residential block, AE, BJ, FD, IB and the rest, has its own puja, and many of them compete seriously on theme and lighting. Because the town is planned, the streets are wide, there are footpaths, and walking from one block puja to the next takes minutes rather than a battle through a crowd.
Who it suits
If you are going out with small children, older parents or anyone who cannot stand in an hour-long queue, Salt Lake is the night to choose. It is busy on the peak nights, but nothing like the crush around the big north and south Kolkata pandals.
Getting there
The Green Line runs through Salt Lake, with stations at Bengal Chemical, City Centre, Central Park and Karunamoyee among others. It runs through the night from Saptami to Navami, from 1:30 pm until just before 4 am. Karunamoyee and Central Park are the most useful stations for the Sector II blocks; City Centre for FD and the Sector III blocks.
Where to go
- FD Block, the best-known Salt Lake puja, with large-scale themes. This year’s is “The Rainbow Kaleidoscope”, an immersive walk through colour and light.
- The Sector II blocks around Karunamoyee: BJ, AJ, AK and Karunamayee G Block, a cluster you can walk in an evening.
- The Sector I blocks near Bengal Chemical: AE Block and Laboni Estate.
- IB Block in Sector III, near City Centre.
Sreebhumi Sporting Club at Lake Town, just north of Salt Lake, is one of the most-visited pujas in the city (this year it is a replica of Jaipur’s Hawa Mahal), but its queues are a different matter. Go first thing in the afternoon or after 1 am.
Food
Salt Lake’s block pujas have their own food stalls, and the City Centre area has restaurants for a proper sit-down meal between pandals. The site’s food guide lists places to eat near each puja.