Bandhone Bandona: Chetla Kolahal Gosthi Ties a Rakhi Thread to Its 56th Year

Durga Puja Of Kolkata

9 Sep, 2026

Three wrists. Three rakhis — one a simple string of red and white beads, one studded in gold, one a deep maroon stone setting — and a single bamboo pole running through all of them, gripped tight by three hands that clearly don't need an introduction to know whose hand is whose. That's the entire banner. No goddess, no pandal render, no theme name blown up in bold. Just hands, thread, and bamboo, set against a wall the colour of turmeric. And somehow that one image says more about what Chetla Kolahal Gosthi is trying to do this year than a paragraph of theme notes ever could.

On the 28th of August, at half-past six in the evening, the club's premises on Alipore Road in Chetla filled up for exactly this reason — to watch that image become real. The khuti puja marking the 56th year of Chetla Kolahal Gosthi's Durga Puja was underway, and this year, the club decided its opening ceremony didn't need to stand alone. It borrowed a festival.

Two Festivals, One Evening

Here's the quiet piece of scheduling that makes this year's khuti puja worth a second look: the 28th of August also happened to fall on Rakhi Purnima, the day siblings across Bengal tie the rakhi thread as a promise of protection and belonging. Most clubs treat their khuti puja as a standalone ritual — bamboo goes into the ground, a priest chants, a banner drops, everyone goes home. Chetla Kolahal Gosthi folded a second occasion into the same evening, calling it "Rakhi Bondhon Utsob," a Rakhi Bandhan festival held alongside the Durga Puja's shubho suchona, or auspicious beginning.

The banner's title makes the intention explicit: Bandhone Bandona — roughly, "an ode within the bond." It's a clever bit of wordplay for a club that's spent 56 years building exactly that: a bond between neighbours on Alipore Road who show up year after year, tie a thread, and start the countdown to Durga Puja together. The banner itself carries the club's logo at the top, its 56th-year milestone, and a small closing line urging every resident of the para to take part — not just watch from the sidelines.

What Actually Happened at the Khuti Ground

By the time the ceremony proper began, the bamboo khuti had already been dressed the way South Kolkata clubs favour it this season — a spiralling column of marigold and rose garlands running from top to base, checked red-and-white cloth wrapped just beneath the crown, and a pair of hand-fans in yellow, red, and black fixed near the top like a small ceremonial crest of their own. Small silver ornaments sat nestled between the fans, catching whatever light reached them.

A priest, dressed in saffron, sat cross-legged on the ground in front of the pole, working through the rites with the plates, lamps, and copper vessels that every khuti puja demands — a lit candle standing upright in a holder, a steel plate of fruit and sweets, coconuts, betel leaves, and a small mountain of seasonal fruit — pomegranates, green apples, guavas — arranged for the offering. Behind him, the club's backdrop repeated its checkerboard pattern of maroon and white, stamped with the Chetla Kolahal Gosthi crest and the words "Khuti Pujo" printed clearly enough to leave no doubt about the occasion.

Once the rituals at the base were done, the crowd moved to the part every khuti puja is really staged for — the reveal. Club members, local well-wishers, and at least a few recognisable faces from the neighbourhood gathered close around the flower-wrapped pole, hands reaching in together to touch it as it was lifted upright, a moment that plays out at almost every khuti puja worth photographing this season. Garlands were adjusted, congratulations exchanged, and the club's 56th year was, officially, open for business.

The Names Behind This Year's Vision

Every banner eventually gets attributed to more people than most visitors ever notice, and Chetla Kolahal Gosthi credits its creative direction this year to Sudarshan Haldar, the hand shaping how the club's larger vision for its 56th year will eventually come together once the bamboo scaffolding gives way to a finished pandal. Alongside him, the responsibility of giving the goddess her form — what the club calls "Mayer Rupayan" — has gone to Dipen Mondal, whose work over the coming weeks will decide what the idol at the heart of this year's celebration actually looks like.

It's worth pointing out how early this naming happens. A khuti puja is, technically, just a foundation ritual — bamboo, thread, blessings, done. But committees rarely announce a creative director and an idol-maker this early unless a fairly clear plan already exists behind the scenes. Chetla, by that measure, seems to already know roughly where it's headed for 2026, even if the public won't see the shape of it for a few more weeks yet.

Chetla's Place on South Kolkata's Puja Map

Alipore Road sits in a stretch of South Kolkata that rarely goes quiet during puja season. Chetla shares its pin code with some genuinely major names in the city's Durga Puja story, and the neighbourhood as a whole has drawn enough attention over the years that state leadership itself has shown up here for pandal inaugurations in past seasons — a fair indicator of how seriously this pocket of the city takes its Sharadotsab. Chetla Kolahal Gosthi's own khuti puja adds one more thread to that map, quite literally, given this year's rakhi theme.

If you're tracking how the rest of South and North Kolkata is opening its 2026 season, our running Khuti Puja 2026 coverage is updated through the month as new ceremonies come in — from century-old clubs unveiling banners in North Kolkata to newer committees like Chetla Kolahal Gosthi finding fresh ways to make an old ritual feel personal again.

What Comes Next for the 56th Year

A khuti puja only ever marks a beginning. With Dipen Mondal now confirmed to shape the idol and Sudarshan Haldar steering the creative direction, the next stretch of this season belongs entirely to the workshops — the slow, patient work of turning bamboo frames and river clay into a finished Devi. Readers who enjoy following that side of the story, watching the goddess take shape month by month before she ever reaches a pandal, can track it through our ongoing Kumartuli coverage, which follows artisans across Kolkata's puja season.

For updates directly from the club itself — pandal progress, theme confirmations, and the everyday glimpses committees share as October gets closer — Chetla Kolahal Gosthi's official Facebook page remains the most reliable place to watch.

Why This One's Worth Following

Fifty-six years is long enough that a club could easily coast on habit — the same bamboo, the same rituals, the same banner format year after year. Chetla Kolahal Gosthi chose instead to make its opening ceremony mean something extra this year, tying a festival about protection and belonging directly into the start of its Durga Puja season. It's a small creative decision, but it's the kind that tends to say more about a club's spirit than any theme reveal will. The khuti is in the ground now, the thread is tied, and Alipore Road has fifty-odd days left to find out exactly what shape that bond takes by the time October arrives.

Have photographs or updates from Chetla Kolahal Gosthi's puja ground? Get in touch through our Contact page — community-submitted coverage is always welcome.

Image Credit: Chetla Kolahal Gosthi.