It is during this time of the year that the Bengalis across the country celebrate these five days with lots of food, rituals and traditional worshipping of Goddess Durga with reverberating beats of Dhaak and chanting of vedic mantras.

"Bengalis who have settled outside West Bengal, known as Probashi Bangali, get together to celebrate the five days of festivities in a serene splendour befitting the regal grace of Mother annihilating the demon, Mahishashura," president, Nandanik, J P Banerjee said on Monday.

The organisers of Kalyaninagar Sarbojonin Durgotsav 2009, Nandanik, a social organisation from Pune is gearing up to celebrate its sixth year of Puja, organised at Rohi Villa Palace, Koregoan Park.

This is an opportunity for Bengalis and devotees belonging to other communities enjoy the rich Bengali cultural milieu of music, dance and drama along with the delicious sweets and mouth-watering savouries, Banerjee said.

President of Bangiya Samnskriti Samsad, the most prominent Bengali cultural body in the city Shashwati Chakroborty, said efforts were being made to encourage local Bengali talent for presenting cultural programmes on stage and focus on ensuring preservation of Bengali culture amongst children residing outside Bengal.

This year, Nandanik is staging `Festival of India', a collection of songs and dances from across India performed by club members. Chairman Kali Bari Durga Puja Committee, Khadki-Range Hills said that it would be bringing cultural troupes from Kolkata to stage puppet show and musical programme.