Durga Puja 2008 - "The biggest party in the world" according to justifiably proud Kolkata-vallahs. Every block had a makeshift bamboo-and-cloth temple and inside were colorful statues of the multi-armed Durga astride a lion, slaying the Demon who Takes Many Forms. For five days everyone- the fat, the old, the young, the crippled, the students, workers, gangsters, drug-dealers, chai-stand owners, children and beggars of Kolkata - dressed in their finest clothes and enjoyed the festive atmosphere. Pale tourists, Sikhs with impenetrable forests of facial hair and conservative Muslim women in black Chadors visited the temporary temples to pay respect to feminine power and receive a small dish of channa chat. For five days the statues were brought to the Hoogli and deposited in this sacred offshoot of the Ganges. Some were small, with a single man
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