Flood-hit Bihar districts forgo Durga Puja celebrations

Lakhan Singh and his neighbor Mithlesh Rai, both in their mid 50s, are cursing the floods in Bihar that has made them forgo Durga Puja celebrations in their village. They are two of hundreds of thousands of villagers in Bihar's Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Madhubani and Samastipur districts, which have been badly hit by floods.

"The floods this year have come as a curse for us, there is no festivity in our village, and there is no celebration. A few women managed to wade though three to four feet flood waters to visit the temple to offer prayers," said Singh a resident of Dharharba village in Muzaffarpur.

Rai, who is also from the same village, said that, as far as he could remember this was the first time that
floodwaters did not recede during Durga Puja. "Neither can we go outside the village nor can any one visit us. We are marooned, making it impossible for us to celebrate Durga Puja and Dussehra in the traditional way," said Rai.

A middle-aged school teacher, Santosh Pandey, of a village in Gaighat in Muzaffarpur is blaming his bad luck for not celebrating Durga Puja. "It is sheer bad fortune that flood affected us badly this year and we are not able to celebrate the festival,"

Pandey said.

Due to water logging in these districts, children are missing village and block level fairs to mark Durga Puja. "It is silent everywhere, which is very unusual during the festival. There is no lighting, music and dance. Even sweets and new clothes are not available for children," Pandey told rediff.com over telephone. 

He recalled that the festival was celebrated with fervour and gaiety in his village, but not this year.

Interestingly, the floods have come as a blessing for hundreds of goats. They have escaped being killed during Durga Puja and Dussehra when Hindus sacrifice animals as part of a ritual to appease the goddess.

The floods have rendered hundreds of people homeless and over two million people affected by it.

The floods caused by the swollen Adhwara group of rivers -Bagmat and Gandak rivers breaching embankments at several places.

The district officials said the flood-affected districts witnessed low-key festivities this year. "Floods have created havoc inundating hundreds of villages in the last one week," officials said.

The flood also claimed the lives of 35 people and damaged crops worth crores of rupees.