KOLKATA( AFP)-India's main religious festival season is back in full swing, with huge noisy crowds thronging markets and fairs for the first time in two years, barely six months after a devastating Covid-19 surge. The coronavirus is still claiming over 200 lives daily in the nation of 1.3 billion people but that is down sharply from the 4, 000 fatalities in April and May. Most activities are back to normal and India has administered almost a billion vaccine doses, with around 75 per cent of peop

The Durga Puja, the Bengal region’s biggest religious festival, concluded in Kolkata on Tuesday.... Image Durga Puja in a Bengali household that has celebrated it since 1859.... This year, the family’s seventh generation was part of the celebration....