Pune: Nandanik Sanstha Marks 22nd Year Of Durgotsav With Culture, Tradition And Festivities In Koregaon Park 

Pune, September 24, 2025: Nandanik Sanstha’s Durgotsav 2025 is being celebrated at Rohi Villa Palace Grounds, Lane 7, Koregaon Park, Pune.

The Durga Puja celebrations will start from:

^·            Maha Sashti on September 28^th  

^·            Maha Saptami on September 29^th  

^·            Maha Ashtami on September 30^th

^o     Sandhi Puja on September 30^th  (1.21pm to 2.09pm)

^·            Maha Navami on October 1st

^·            Dashami/Sindoor Khela on October 2^nd

Sandip Mukherjee, President, Nandanik Sanstha, informed, “Every year our endeavour is to ensure that we are able to provide a fulfilling darshan and experience to the devotees of Ma Durga, visiting our Pandal in Rohi Villa. This year Navratri starts a few weeks early and since the rains are still persisting our Sanstha is taking all the necessary precautions and proactive actions to ensure devotees are able to enjoy their precious time with Ma Durga and the Navratri celebrations”.

Mukherjee further emphasized, “Maintaining discipline, adhering to all applicable rules and regulations, remembering our rich culture, enjoying mouth-watering food preparations and upholding our age-old traditions are all synonymous with Durga Puja celebrations in Pune and at Nandanik. We are extremely conscientious about all these aspects. Keeping this in mind, our idol and pandal decorations, the hygiene and sanitation initiatives, the selection of cultural programs, and the stall offerings are all aligned with this thought process. Our Protima (Ma Durga’s resplendent idol) is made with a mixture of holy mud, hay and wood, which is a mandate we stick to every year. We are extremely mindful about the decorations that are used around Ma Durga and only stick to material that is re-usable and also permitted by the PMC. We have a “no plastic” policy that we abide by and also request our stall vendors and visitors to adhere to the same. Hygiene and sanitation are taken very seriously by Nandanik Sanstha and our dedicated admin team, along with our infra and other teams are working tirelessly to ensure that there is no stone unturned to keep the entire area clean and hygienic.”

The cultural programs organised by Nandanik this year will have a good mix of music, dance, drama and literature. We have invited some celebrated artists from Bengal, as well as local performers to ensure a healthy confluence of culture and entertainment for our audience, during the Durgotsav evenings. Our in-house programs shall consist of children performing ‘Ray Trilogy’, an all- ladies’ drama – ‘Shomikoron’, as well as dance and music presentations by Nandanik members. We have a unique program that is going to be performed by guest children from C.R. Ranganathan Residential School of Deaf and Dumb and by Pune School and Home for the Blind. On Ashtami evening, we have planned a “Hemant Kumar Nite”, dedicated to the famous singer – Hemanta Mukherjee, whose songs will be sung by Sagnik Sen – the golden voice from Kolkata. On Navami evening, we will have a “Bollywood Nite”, where Shantanu Sudame and Shruti Mehendale will regale us with popular songs.

Nandanik Sanstha’s Durgotsav also promotes entrepreneurship and every year we encourage “homeprenuers” and “momprenuers” to promote their business in the wide array of stalls and kiosks, which are set up within the premises. This year too, we shall have ladies selling beautiful collections of handloom sarees, jewellery, gifting items, like candles etc, exquisite scarfs and materials. We have also invited artisans and craftsmen from Bengal, who will display artefacts, paintings, handicrafts and handloom sarees etc. As books and reading has always been intrinsic to the Bengali ethos, having a Boi Mela during Durgotsav, is a prime attraction; all book lovers are invited to visit the Bengali book store and stock up on their prized collection.

Durga Puja and Bengali cuisine go hand in hand and keeping that sentiment intact, we have planned a variety of food stalls that the devotees can choose from and indulge in. Every year, we have the famous caterers from Mumbai, who come with their team, to serve the Bengali Food lovers of Pune and this year will be no different.