Team News Riveting
Marrah, a sleepy village 30 km away from the industrial town of Bokaro
in Jharkhand was powered with Wi-Fi connection for the first time,
thanks to Goddess Durga.
Being the only one in the village, the nearly 300-year-old puja of the
Ghosh family of Marrah is attended by nearly 600 families residing in
the village bordering Bengal.
The traditional Durga Puja had gone hi-tech to avoid large gatherings
and maintain social distancing amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The Ghosh
family installed Wi-Fi connection with a coverage area of about 20
metres so that people can witness the puja rituals even from a
distance outside the temple premises.
The village has just 700 Bengali families and a population of 2,000.
The first-ever Wi-Fi was being installed in the village so that senior
members could supervise Durga Puja online this year.
The village did not get even 10 hours of electricity and installing a
generator to conduct Durga Puja, for a Wi-Fi connection was a
challenge.
Pritika Datta, a member from the family, was the brainchild of the
idea. “Once you start doing Durga Puja, it is not possible to skip
even for one year. Several villagers look forward to our puja
throughout the year. Sometimes they want to offer prayers after their
wishes have been fulfilled. We had to come up with an idea to conduct
the puja somehow in spite of the situation,” she said.
Reportedly, a 300-meter wire has been laid out to install a Wi-Fi
connection in the village. The family is happily bearing the cost of
the internet and router and all the other facilities.
