Like the last year, this year too, at the Cincinnati Durga Puja - we will have live broadcasting of the 3-day event covering all the key rituals & programs !!

The channel can be viewed on the landing page of our website at www.cciorg.com.  Or by clicking here.

Feel free to let your parents, relatives & friends know about this. Whether they are near or far, in-town or out-of-town, they can see this annual event that you will be participating in, they can see you doing the anjali, they can see you performing on stage and they can see you having the bhog-prasad.

If you are new to the community, they might even be able to catch you while the camera-men goes around interviewing all the new-comers to Cincinnati's very own annual Durgotsav ! 

​Happy Pujo !

This was a last minute request that was impossible to ignore. Members of the Deepa Academy, Bangalore will be presenting a dance composition during our Durga Puja this year.

The performers are visually challenged children from the Deepa Academy in India. They are now touring USA. Luckily they are staying at the Atrium hotel and the children will perform Indian classical dance at 8.30PM during dinner time on October 16th, Friday. This was the only time available to them and to us. 
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It is our earnest appeal to  our members to generously donate towards this noble effort. They are a registered non-profit institution in India. They will accept checks issued from US banks.

Deepa Academy's website is: http://www.deepaacademy.org/ 

4 more days to go ... 4 more days before the biggest event of the year unfolds ...  4 more days before the registration rates go up again. Please register right away, if you have not done so yet @ www.cciorg.com

Many people registered last night to take advantage of the registration rates before the hike from today. The rates have now been updated on our website to reflect the increase. The child rates have been kept the same as before. The student rates have been increased slightly ($5) for each category. All these rates will again go up at the gate on October 16, 17 and 18. 

Today is Mahalaya. Mahalaya has always been a pre-cursor to the puja mood during our childhood. 

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. 

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 just 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 reminiscing our childhood in Kolkata many years back. Enjoy!

Shubho Mahalaya !

The registration rates for Cincinnati's only annual Durga Puja will go up from tomorrow (12th October). To make it easy for our student and child attendees, their rates will remain unchanged after this hike. All rates however will go up significantly on the days of the event. Please take some time out before its too late to register through our easy-to-use online registration feature.

​Meanwhile, here are the new rates that will become effective from 12th October:

​CCI has been busy. We have been busy planning the eighth annual Cincinnati Durga Utsav in Cincinnati, Ohio.
 
We have been thinking about what makes Cincinnati's Durga Puja special for everyone. Really, what makes our Durga Puja special?
 
Is it the food?  SURE! Well, we will have fabulous food from the best Indian restaurants in the city, together with special home made items like nalen gurer sandesh from our own kitchens !! Check out our food menu here.
 
Is it the cultural programs? SURE! There will be lots of music and dancing, theater and instrumental performances by our CCI kids and adults. There will be special costumes and decorations. Lot of new faces melded with the old ones. There is also the one and only Parnava Banerjee from Kolkata, India who had entertained us last year with a scintillating performance. Check out the program lineup here. And to plan your 3 days, check out the overall 3-day schedule here.
 
Is it the “bonedi pujo” we reminisce about? SURE! We are the best of all worlds. We are large enough to have dhunuchi naach and yet small enough where “everybody knows your name” in addition to the non-stop adda that goes on all three days. 
 
But most of all, what makes CCI's Cincinnati Durga Utsav special? It is YOU! Please visit our website: www.cciorg.com. REGISTER NOW and take advantage of our fantastic low rates. Call our Conveners, call our Registration team and mark October 16 – 18, 2015 on your calendar.
 
Looking forward to seeing you there!

The CDU 2015 schedules have been published !!

Please check out here for the 3-day schedule, including the cultural program line-ups to plan your puja days.

Like last year, we are working on getting the event transmitted live so that your family and friends across the world can see you participating in the pujo rituals. More to come as we work out the details .... :-)

CCI sponsored Temple Lunch is tomorrow, October 4th (more details here). We hope all of you will participate in large numbers. Going by past trends, we expect ~120 people from across the Indian community at the lunch. Volunteers bringing pre-cooked food to the temple should reach by 11 AM. Please check the volunteer sign-up sheet at the Members' Corner to see if you had signed up for any of the items. (Now is also a good time to check if you have access to the Members Corner because our Members only communication is usually posted there. Lets us know if you are a member but do not have access to the Members Corner).

This time our volunteers have decided to cook vegetable pulao and chhole in place of khichuri in the temple kitchen. If you would like to be a part of that, please let us know here.

Our next event is Durga Puja. The countdown to the Cincinnati Durga Utsav also begins with the completion of the Temple Lunch. Our registration team will be available at the temple to complete the registration formalities for those of us who haven't had the time so far to do so. The pre-registration rates have been extended up to October 11th as requested by many members of the community. Please use this opportunity to register and help the organizing team with their planning process.
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The lunch will be followed by a General Body Meeting. We hope all of our members will attend the GBM, not only to fulfil quorum requirements, but also to help the Board of Trustees take some important decisions on storing CCI assets at a commercial facility. See you tomorrow !