Durga Puja for Bengalis usually means a trip to the hill station of Darjeeling

This year, the government of Bengal has declared 10 days holiday for the Durga Puja. Obviously, there is a rush to book hotels in the hill station of Darjeeling. It seems already more than 70 per cent of hotel rooms in this favorite tourist destination are already booked. Darjeeling is located in northern West Bengal. The economy of the region depends on tourism. During the pandemic lockdown, tourism suffered in the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong apart from the forests of the Dooars. In view of reduction in coronavirus cases, revival of businesses would now be on the cards. New Jalpaiguri is the gateway to the region and tickets of trains are not available. Occupancy rate of hotel rooms have improved. It seems the region witnessed good footfalls during the summer holidays and hoteliers expect the trend to continue during the forthcoming festive season. Hotels nearly full as north Bengal braces for 'revenge travel' during Durga Puja. Apart from hotels, there is also an increase in demand of homestays.

The 10-day Durga Puja holiday for employees of the Bengal government, coupled with 'revenge travelling,' has prompted this massive demand. That is the opinion of the tourism industry. The surge is in 'revenge travel' because people are trying to make up for vacations lost during the pandemic. This has led to considerable escalation of hotel prices. An official of the West Bengal Tourism's Jaldapara Tourist Lodge says all rooms of the property are fully booked. Efforts are on to create a special menu for the guests. In order to tackle the rush of tourists, there will be special trains between Kolkata and New Jalpaiguri in Siliguri. As for the joy rides in the famous toy trains, the Northeast Frontier Railway has decided to operate four new rides in Darjeeling during the festive season. These will operate between Darjeeling and Ghum.

Durga Puja from outside India and within –

13 Best Durga Puja in London UK 2022

14 Best Durga Puja in New York USA 2022

2022 Durga Puja Calendar for Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Tourist hotels in Puri, Darjeeling and Digha –

GosaniYatra or The Durga Puja of Puri

Darjeeling hotels brim with tourists

How Can You Enjoy Durga Puja At Affordably Priced Hotel In Digha?

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Movies on rebirth – hot favorites of Bollywood

After twins, another popular genre of Bollywood movies is the one about rebirth. Although there are not too many Bollywood movies on this, the ones that have seen the light of day have been blockbusters. The general theme is usually about revenge that the wronged one takes and the storylines are designed accordingly with plenty of scope for song and dance sequences.
In real life there are many stories of rebirth – like the 10-year-old kid from Oklahoma. He believed that he was the reincarnation of Hollywood actor Marty Martyn, a man who died in 1964. He even recounted to his mother stories of meeting Rita Hayworth, dancing on Broadway, traveling overseas and working at an agency.
There are 10 other interesting cases of rebirth here.

Or - a kid suddenly starts to talk about a long lost family in a totally different part of the country. His parents are puzzled, they discuss the matter with their family and friends and even with local priests. They feel that some evil spirit has taken control of the boy. The boy keeps repeating strange facts and stories of a past life. Finally, the parents decide to take the plunge and travel to the place as directed by the boy. And – once there, the boy begins to impress the people with his knowledge of intricate affairs of the family. That in short is rebirth – when one is reborn in a different family.
That is the theme of Bollywood movies on the theme of rebirth.
Only, in order to make it more dramatic, it is not about one stray rebirth but of two of them. It is certainly a bit of a coincidence but Bollywood movies thrive on coincidences.
The 1995 movie Karan-Arjun was about the rebirth of two brothers Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan. They had, in their previous birth, been hunted down and killed by landlords of a village in Rajasthan. Their mother continues to threaten the landlord and his henchmen that one day, her sons would return to take revenge. And – that is exactly what happens. Another blockbuster rebirth movie was Om Shanti Om of 2007 - in this movie, Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone are killed and are reborn to take revenge against the man who had conspired to kill Deepika. Once again we see two rebirths, simultaneously. (to be continued …)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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