jaipur its that time of the year again when the familiar beats of the dhak a drum and lyrics from kolkata render the air of the pink city bringing back fond memories of its bengali connect and with durga puja this year already knocking on saptomi the seventh day it is time for most bengali babus to take a break from the rigours of everyday life and while away hours hopping from pandal to pandalno sooner had the sun given way to cooler climes on shoshti the sixth day smartly dressed men and deckedup women ventured out of their houses in new attire to the nearest pandal once there it was literally a plunge into everything that makes this festival special for every bengalipink city has a long bengali connect during the times of the rajas and maharajas there were at least two prime ministers in the kings court sansar chandra sen and hathi mukherjee who were bengalis there was another bengali vidhyadhar bhattacharjee who was involved with the establishment of the city and after whom vidhyadhar nagar has been named recalls swapan guha president of the jaipur durga bari association in fact even the english connect for the city or the elaborate designs that one sees in the pandals made out for weddings here have bengalis behind it what makes it so special this year is the ajanta style idol with a class of modernism and the elaborate pandal that we have built he says going back to the history of the bengalisthe durga bari puja is one of the oldest pujas here in the city that is stepping onto its 55th year all the other pujas in the city have had their roots in this in fact some of the oldest bengali families of the city are still attached to this says mantosh das of the durga barithe pandal of the durga bari this year has a specially done 100 ft gate that has of saal leaves and icecream sticks as part of its decoration the interiors of the pandal have copies of intricate art and paintings by jamini roywhile keeping traditions intact we have also added a touch of modernism with the paintings and have tried to bring out something different from the usual thermocol designs that we normally put up elaborates secretary of the association sudipto senthe idol of this durga puja has been done by artists from kolkatas kumartuli as have been the lights and the pandalbut our emphasis is on the bhog that we serve no one who comes here goes without the bhog about 4000 people will be eating the bhog every day for the next three days says senif the evenings are a rush hour with crowds in their new clothes so are the specially planned evenings at the pandal if there are ballet groups like singhini ballet performing here then there are singers like saugoto das and probir mukherjee who would be singing folk and modern songs