In northern and western India, the same day is observed as Dussehra, celebrating a different victory: Rama's defeat of Ravana. Enormous effigies of Ravana, Meghnath, and Kumbhakarna are built in fields across North India and burned dramatically at dusk. The two celebrations — Durga's triumph over Mahishasura in the east, Rama's triumph over Ravana in the north — fall on the same Tithi and reflect two threads of the same fabric: the victory of dharma over adharma, of light over the forces that darken it.

The Bengali tradition of Shubho Bijoya — greeting and visiting after Dashami — has its own distinct character. After the Bisarjan, people return home and begin the rounds of visiting: grandparents, uncles, neighbours, anyone older whom you respect. You touch their feet. They bless you. Someone brings out the sweets. The conversation turns, inevitably, to next year. When will we meet again? How quickly the five days went. Did you manage to see the Bagbazar puja this year? There's a specific quality to Bijoya visiting that feels like picking up where a longer conversation was paused — and it continues through weeks, because people who couldn't be reached on Dashami are visited on the days after, in what extends into the season of Bijoya greetings.

The practice of Kolakuli — the chest-to-chest embrace between men, particularly older men — is one of the more touching customs of Bijoya. It is an act of complete reconciliation: past misunderstandings set aside, grievances forgotten. The embrace is physical and unambiguous. Two men who may have barely spoken during a difficult year hold each other for a moment on Bijoya and mean it.

In Kolkata, the Bisarjan on Dashami is a spectacle in itself — trucks carrying the idols in processions that can stretch for kilometres, the Dhaak playing, crowds following on foot to the Hooghly ghats. The river receives hundreds of idols over the course of Dashami evening. By midnight, the major pujas have all completed their Bisarjan.

The environmental dimension of idol immersion has become increasingly discussed. Traditional Durga Puja idols are made with natural clay from the Ganges riverbed, bamboo frameworks, natural dyes, and biodegradable materials — designed specifically to dissolve in water. The concern arises with idols that use synthetic paints, chemical dyes, or plaster of Paris. Many puja committees have switched to eco-friendly materials in recent years in response to NGO campaigns and government guidelines. Some communities perform symbolic immersion using small clay figurines, keeping the ritual intact while reducing the environmental load.