Dashami, sindoor khela and bisarjan

Dashami begins with darpan bisarjan — the immersion of the goddess's reflection in a mirror, performed before the idol itself is moved. It is the formal end of her stay. In many pujas she is then offered sweets and a last meal, in the way you would feed a daughter before she leaves.

Then comes baran: the women of the para touch her face with betel leaf and sweets, mark her with sindoor, and say goodbye.

After baran the vermilion goes on each other. Sindoor khela is played in the pandal courtyard through the late morning — smeared on foreheads and cheeks until nobody is recognisable, with a great deal of laughing and a certain amount of crying.

It was historically for married women. Over the last decade a growing number of pujas in Kolkata have opened it to widows, to unmarried women and to trans women, and several of the best-known committees now say so publicly. Practice still varies from puja to puja, so watch first and join if you are welcomed.

Through the afternoon and long into the night the idols are carried out — on lorries, on handcarts, on shoulders — with drums and dancing, to the ghats on the Hooghly. Babughat, and the northern ghats above it, take processions until the small hours.

It is worth seeing once, and it is not a comfortable crowd. Stay off the ramps, keep well back from the water, and do not get between a procession and the river. Immersion at the main ghats is heavily managed by the police and the river authorities, and the barriers are there for a good reason.

The evening of Dashami and the days after are Bijoya: visiting, touching the feet of elders, embracing everyone your own age, and eating an unreasonable quantity of sweets. Narkel naru, nimki, sandesh. It goes on for weeks and it is, for a lot of people, the best part.