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{/googleAds} Come Dussehra the celebrations will have a special flavour in  the lives of women left to rot in the holy town of Vrindavan by a cruel social system. 

After they were forced to leave the place of their birth following the death of their husbands, the widows will visit West Bengal for the first time next week. 'And it will be a royal journey to the city of Joy which is anxiously waiting to accord a memorable reception to them.'

A majority of widows, who were left to fend for themselves by their families are presently living in various Homes in Vrindavan. Most belong to West Bengal where Durga puja is the most important festival.

The visit to the ‘City of Joy’ by some 50 widows has been planned by Sulabh International which takes care of more than 2000 widows in Vrindavan, Varanasi and Uttrakhand.

Sulabh Founder Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak told Agratoday.in 'some puja organizers in Kolkata and its suburbs have invited widows from Vrindavan to grace their pandals. Some puja committees like Pally Mangal Samity Durga Puja in Jodhpur Park, Salt Lake FE Block and Hindustan Park in Kolkata have decided to felicitate them. A few Puja committees have even requested these widows to inaugurate the Puja festival.'

One of the organizers Jaydeep Mukherjee of Pally Mangal Samity has planned special celebrations for the visiting mothers. According to the organizers West Bengal chief minister Mamta Bannerji is likely to be a guest at one of the functions for the widows of Vrindavan. They will also get a chance to meet the Governor of west Bengal.

At one of the felicitation pandals a replica of a famous Sri Krishna temple of Vrindavan is being created.

The widows will for the first time fly to the city of Joy on October 6. They will straight away proceed to a special function to mark their welcome by members of YLO, a youth organization, which has decided to arrange for a band party with traditional 'Dhaak' to match the occasion.

Pathak said, 'a few days back, some of the elderly widows expressed the desire to visit Kolkata during Durga Puja. Though it was a good idea, we were scared of the crowd. In the meantime, some organizers approached us and said they would make special arrangements for the women.'

Vrindavan shelter home officials told Agratoday.in in Agra '50 widows from four Vrindavan ashrams will fly to Kolkata to inaugurate the Pally Mangal Samity Durga puja at Jodhpur Park this year. The Puja organizers have sent an invitation to Sulabh International which is taking care of these widows staying in different ashrams in Vrindavan. They have said they would make special hassle free arrangements to make pandal hopping easy for the elderly women.

Apart from the Jodhpur Park puja some other puja organizer's like Salt Lake FE block and Hindustan Park puja committee have also invited the widows to grace their puja pandals during the festivities. Many of these Vrindavan widows, mostly from West Bengal, have never visited the city after they had to leave the state due to different practical constraints they experienced in the family after their husbands died.

'When some of them expressed the desire to enjoy Durga Puja in Kolkata, we thought this could be a noble idea … a break from their monotonous life in the ashrams,' Dr. Pathak said.

Some of the widows had left the state some 70 years ago after their husbands died young. These women led a sub-human existence till the Supreme Court intervened and asked Sulabh International to act as the Good Samaritan. Today they lead a normal life, their health-care and basic needs taken care of including entertainment and some of them are being taught vocations and the three Rs,' Pathak told Agratoday.in.

Sulabh is now taking care of 1000 widows in Vrindavan, each gets Rs 2000 a month. Earlier they were not even able to make Rs 5 a day. 'Rs 5 per day was our earning. We had to buy food and fuel from that paltry amount. Now we are getting Rs 2,000 per month. What else do we need at this age when we are waiting for the final call,' Kanchana Devi (78) who had left Kolkata 50 years back said with a smile.

More than economics, it is the dignity restored and a sense of satisfaction that is widely visible.