End of A Festival

Today ( October 13) the famous Autumn festival of Bengal comes to an end with the immersion of the idols of Goddess Durga in the river Ganges or nearby lakes or ponds.Visharjan (immersion) is the official end of the Durga puja (worship of Goddess Durga).

An elderly woman bidding Goddess farewell.According to legend, goddess Durga returns to her mother Menoka and father Giriraj after puja. Arriving with her sons Kartik and Ganesh, daughters Lakshmi and Saraswati, and two friends Jaya and Bijoya, Goddess stays with her parents for four days, only to return to her parent’s house on ‘dashami’.File Photo Courtesy: Arun Lodh

Women with vermillion-streaked faces infront of the deity File Photo Courtesy: Arun Lodh

During Sindur khela (Vermillion game) married women greet each other after offering prayer to the Mother God at their puja mandop(makeshift temple).It begins after prists complete the ritual to end the puja.During sindur khela they greet each other after offering prayer to the Goddess.They apply Sindur to the Goddess’s head and offer sweets and after that greet each other.After that immersion take place in nearby water body or river sides.After the immersion, younger ones touch the feet of elder ones to pay their respect and offer sweets.Bengalies famous for their sweet tooths.

The West Bengal Pollution Control Board, Calcutta Police as well as Calcutta Municipal Corporation provide some guidelines on removal of idol structures thatpollution Control Board had issued a couple of years ago.On October 23, 2000, the court had directed the Pollution Control Board to devise measures to minimise the pollution after the immersion of idols, following a public interest litigation.The Board prepared a set of norms stating that the structures, had to be removed within 24 hours of immersion of the idols.

The collected debris was to be removed to the solid waste dumping site by the local civic body for ultimate disposal.Removal of the structures was the responsibility of the local police.For the past two three years Civic body and Calcutta police try to implement the guidelines strictly.

UN Permanent Representative of Israel Briefs Press

Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, briefs reporters on the situation in Lebanon.

Web Cache Poisoning

A cyber attack known as ” web cache poisoning” uses cache storage systems to propagate malicious data to unsuspecting users.When an attacker is successful in poisoning a cache, they can change the content that users receive by sending them to fake websites, plating malware, or stealing personal data.