Puja on toy train awaits worshippers

AVIJIT SINHA(From The Telegraph)

Siliguri, Aug. 16: People can worship Goddess Durga on a running toy train this year, thanks to a Siliguri-based travel agency. The KBS Tours and Travels will charter a toy train and operate it for five days from Siliguri Junction to Tindharia. “For the first time, people will have the opportunity to celebrate Durga Puja on a DHR train. We will charter a toy train and organise Durga Puja on board. People can board the train at Siliguri Junction station in the morning and enjoy the Puja through the day as they proceed to Tindharia, located around 35km from here,” said Sanjoy Goswami, the managing director of the KBS Tours and Travels. The travel agency had organised chartered train rides earlier also. “People here usually roam around during Durga Puja. Our company has operated a number of chartered trains on several occasions and entertained tourists with additional facilities, which make their trips enchanting and interesting. This time, we will organise puja rides,” said Goswami. Each person will be charged Rs 800 for the one-day trip, which includes lunch and entertainment . The tourists will be offered lunch at Tindharia, coupled with a host of cultural programmes. They will be taken back to Siliguri Junction in the evening. “We will have the idols of Devi Durga and her children on the train and conduct puja everyday on board, right from Shashti. Any person boarding the train at Siliguri Junction can participate in the Puja and offer anjali,” said Goswami. “Everyday, we can carry 90 people in the train. All of them would be provided with prasad and treated to a sumptuous lunch at Tindharia, where entertainment programmes will be lined up for the tourists,” said Goswami. In fact, the KBS Tours’s activities are not restricted to the puja revellers alone now. The agency on Sunday opened a multi-facility centre comprising spa, discotheque and billiard room among other things at Savin Kingdom, an entertainment park at Dagapur near here. KBS Galaxy, as the centre is called, is touted to be a one-stop spot for merry makers in Siliguri. “Discotheques, spas, gyms and, of course bars, have mushroomed in Siliguri and its outskirts in recent years. But all these facilities can be found under one roof at KBS Galaxy. The upper class crowd is our target and the entry will be restricted with a fee,” said Goswami. “Most of the facilities, including the discotheque, would be available only for the members who will have to enrol with a fee of around Rs 1 lakh for 10 years. For non-members, the restaurants, banquet and conference hall and rooms would be available.” By paying Rs 1 lakh, four members of a family will be given entry for 10 years. The fee is Rs 10,000 for one-year entry. The agency has also set up an alfresco bar or pool bar. Apart from counters to serve wine, there is a hot tub in one of the bars, where people can take a dip while enjoying the drinks Similarly, the zebra lounge or piano bar is another spot, where classical music will be played. Its counter is modelled on a piano and the interior has black and white stripes, just like a zebra. The members can spend their evenings with friends and colleagues in card and billiard rooms. There is a discotheque for those interested in an adrenaline rush. Two restaurants — one offers multi-cuisine and the other ethnic Bengali food — have also come up. Added to these facilities, a banquet and conference hall and the luxurious suites are also available for the guests. Sanjoy said upper class segment in Siliguri had been complaining for a long time that there was no facility for them to hang out. They wanted places where crowd would be less, he said. “We have also heard tourists enquiring about such facilities as they need to spend some hours in Siliguri while on their way home or the Darjeeling hills. With the opening of KBS Galaxy, we hope the tourists would find best and quality services under one roof,” said the MD.