Plan Durga Puja in Kolkata with children, elderly parents or a disability: best hours, lost-child plans, strollers vs carriers, seating, access and medicine.
Night crowds on the pandal trail in Behala. Photo: Snehangshu36, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Crowds follow a daily rhythm, and the difference between peak and quiet hours is enormous.
A Kolkata tram among yellow taxis. Photo: Damien Naidoo, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.
There's no permanently "quiet" pandal; it depends on the hour and the day.
Night crowds on the pandal trail in Behala. Photo: Snehangshu36, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Plan this before you leave home, not at the pandal.
A Kolkata tram among yellow taxis. Photo: Damien Naidoo, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Being honest helps you plan. Many pandals are temporary structures with raised floors, steps at the entrance, cables underfoot, uneven or muddy ground and narrow one-way paths.
Night crowds on the pandal trail in Behala. Photo: Snehangshu36, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Dressing everyone for the day? See what to wear for Durga Puja.
A woman in a red-bordered white sari walks past a giant Durga face in Kolkata. Photo: Surajits photography, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Plan Durga Puja in Kolkata with children, elderly parents or a disability: best hours, lost-child plans, strollers vs carriers, seating, access and medicine.
Durga Puja with children, elderly and disabled visitors → Next story: Basanti Puja: Durga Puja in spring All photo storiesMusic: Rhythm of Dhak a huge membranophone instrument from Bengal and Assam, used in Hindu religious festivals, especially Durga Puja, Sumita Roy Dutta, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.