Our Pujo Committee has finalized the Gate Rates that would be effective from October 7. That is only 10 days away from today. If you have not yet registered, now is the best time to get it done with. Here are the current rates and the gate rates:

Registrations done ahead of time, not only allows the Pujo Committee to plan appropriately, but also reduce the chaos at gate in collecting payments, filling up registration forms and so on. If you are planning to attend the event, we urge you to please visit our website and complete your registrations asap. And while you are browsing, you can also check out the puja schedule, cultural programs and of course, the mouth-watering menu !

That change is the only constant is probably never more conspicuous than the Durga Puja days. That so many changes are possible in so short a time is a sight to be seen, enjoyed and appreciated. Space-time continuum seemingly takes on a new meaning altogether. The meticulous planning obviously has to start many weeks and months ahead of time. And the last bits in that plan are the final schedules that afford the changing times !

So the schedules finally we have, for you to peruse and partake.

Check out the puja schedule, the cultural programs and the food menu which are now published on our website.

Please register soon if you have not done so yet. Our registration rates will go up at the Gate on the days of the event.

The festival of Durga Puja starts with Mahalaya, the first phase of the waxing moon in Ashwin. Mahalaya marks the end of the Pitri-paksha and the start of the Devi-paksha. One of the most important rituals on Mahalaya  is Chokkhu Daan  - the ritual of painting the eyes of the Goddess. 

During our childhood, Mahalaya has always been a pre-cursor to the puja mood. 

Listening to the deep voice of Birendra Krishna Bhadra on All India Radio in a half-awake state at 4 am in the morning, the slight nip in the air and the still dark outside, peering out from under the lep (comforter) and stretching our ears to listen to Mahishashur Mardini, the realization of puja vacations at schools and colleges just around the corner - all these snippets of imagery bring back a flood of nostalgic memories. 

This year Mahalaya is on 30th September. Many of us will be listening and re-creating the Mahalaya effect on the 1st October weekend at our homes.

Here is the complete Mahishashur Mardini by Birendra Krishna Bhadra embedded from Youtube. This is for those kids growing up here and missing such simple pleasures of life. This is for those students who recently started their Fall semester and still coping with that knot in their throat for having to miss Durga Puja back at home. This is for those of us who would be re-creating the Mahalaya effect a week down the line. Enjoy!

​2 more weeks to go ... 2 more weeks before the biggest event of the year unfolds ... 2 more weeks before the registration rates go up. Please register right away, if you have not done so yet @ www.cciorg.com

The littlest of the CCI kids have been busy just like their elder ones in rehearsing and having a fun time over the weekends. We will see them doing Dhunuchi Dance with the beats of Dhaak, in the age-old traditions of Bengal's Durga Puja.

Watch these young ones metamorphose from shorts and t-shirts to dhuti and panjabi on Friday, 7th October evening at our Durga Puja.

Speaking of dhaak, we are getting this region's first dhaak from Kolkata for our 10th annual Durga Puja next year ! So no more make-do with Tympani, like everyone does here. These and many such novel plans will be shared and discussed on Saturday, 8th October. While we continue to plan for a grand 10th year puja in 2017, we know none of these would have been possible without the generosity shown by the community, by way of donations above and beyond the event registrations. All donations received are being held in a corpus savings account separate from our regular checking account. If you wish to donate and join the group of 32 gracious donors, you can do so securely by clicking on the Donate button below.

There are many other ways by which one can donate. We have registered CCI on Amazon and you can direct 0.5% of your Amazon purchases from https://smile.amazon.com to CCI. We are in the process of doing the same with Kroger community rewards. Together we can and together we will.

Long after the Cincinnati Durga Utsav 2016 is over and memories start fading, the participants and their moms-dads-sons-daughters-cousins-nephews-nieces-friends-foes will relish the CDU 2016 brochure for years to come. 

Other than the registrants' directory with contact details, which by the way, everybody finds immensely helpful when throwing parties, the brochure is also an excellent compendium of community updates, literary work and art work.

So, find that Sunil Ganguly in you this weekend !  Or the Abanindranath in your kids ! Set some time aside to let your creative juices flow.... the last date for submission of all creative work for the brochure is September 25, 2016. Please submit via mail or in-person to Smita Sengupta.

If you are not a member and would like to have a print copy of the brochure, please remember to order one at our website.

Today is the last day of early bird registrations ! From tomorrow the rates go up a little bit and then again increase at the gates on the days of the event.

We saw an avalanche of registrations in the past few days and had a tough time keeping our registration details updated. But, many thanks to all those folks who have taken advantage of the early bird rates and have registered already. It helps us tremendously in our planning.

If you have not yet registered, please remember to do so today !

Rehearsals have been going on in full swing in different parts of the town. Here are some glimpses from the Natok rehearsals this weekend. There are a bunch of fresh faces in the cast this year and we are all looking forward to see this comedy of errors that is scheduled to be enacted on October 8th. Come join us and break into peels of after-dinner laughter! 

Please send us pictures of your rehearsals and a short note about the other programs, so that we can publish on our website for the benefit of all the attendees.

This is the last week of early bird registrations and if you are yet to register, this would be a good time to complete the quick, easy and secure process online. Rates will go up from September 16th.

While you are registering please remember to order your puja brochure. We will have very limited number of copies available for purchase during the event. If you are a member, then your membership includes a print copy of the brochure.

We have already crossed 50% of our planned fund-raising to build our corpus. Many thanks to all those who have donated. If any donor has not received an electronic receipt of the donation amount, please let us know so that we can take care of it asap. We still need to raise the remaining 40% and welcome donations of any amount from the community. Let us meet our goals together ! 

Today, we received the official greetings from the Office of the Governor, State of Ohio.

​The Governor's letter will be published along with numerous other articles and creative work in our Puja Brochure. If you have not booked your copy yet, remember to do so while you are registering. If you have already registered, you can always add on a copy to your order later. And if you are a member, then your membership includes a free copy of the brochure !  

Thanks to all the folks who have already registered for Cincinnati Durga Utsav. If you are yet to do so, please remember that we have one more week left before the early-bird registration rates expire. Rates go up from 9/16 and then again at the gate on the days of the event.

Here are the Registration rates from 9/16: 

You can register online in a secure manner here.

While you are registering, remember to book your print copy of the Puja Brochure here.