Ranchi: A festive mood filled the city on Wednesday evening, as Durga Puja pandal hopping returned with nine major inaugurations, turning familiar neighbourhoods into illuminated corridors of faith, craft and spectacle.The first lights came on at 5.30pm at Sri Ramlalla Puja Samiti on the Zila School grounds. One by one, pandals opened at Bakri Bazar, Chandrashekhar Azad Durga Puja Samiti on Main Road, Rajasthan Mitra Mandal near Bada Talab, Geetanjali Club in Morabadi, Ranchi Railway Station Puja Samiti, Jyoti Sangam in Upper Bazar, OCC Club at Bangla School and Subhash Chowk.This year’s circuit is almost a cultural map in motion. At Zila School, the committee has recreated Varanasi’s Swarved temple, pairing colourful illumination with a 15-ft idol of Maa Durga. At Bakri Bazar, Bharatiya Navyuvak Sangh has drawn from Tamil Nadu’s Brihadeeswara temple, while the Chandrashekhar Azad committee on Main Road has built its theme around Gujarat’s Dwarkadhish temple, placing scenes of Lord Krishna alongside the goddess.For many, pandal hopping is less an outing and more an annual ritual stitched with devotion, food and friendship.“People wait for this all year. It is not only about decorations or offering prayers to Maa Durga; it is about walking with friends, tasting street food and making memories. Every pandal offers something different, and that makes these evenings special,” said Badal Singh, spokesperson of Sri Ramlalla Puja Samiti.Visitors echoed the sentiment. “Every year, we look forward to the new themes. We plan our route, visit the pandals we want to see and spend the evening enjoying the lights and street food,” said Deepa Das, a visitor on Main Road.Behind the glitter are weeks of labour by volunteers who worked on structures, décor, lighting and crowd management. “We worked for weeks to bring the theme alive and give visitors a memorable puja experience,” said Raman Kumar, a volunteer at a Dhurwa pandal.As the pandals opened, Ranchi slipped into its festive rhythm — devotional, crowded, colourful and unmistakably alive.
