With Theme Nazis invading Kolkata as never before kicking off a fierce battle for awards subject matters of myriad hues — from ‘tribal hunt’ to the ‘Mother’s mastery over the zodiac’ to affording the ‘Mother with a thousand hands to combat the modern anomalies’ — dominate Kolkata Durga Puja pandals this year round.
Sample this at Deshapriya Park where the artist has afforded the Mother Goddess with thousand hands to fight off modern day evils: terrorism, lust, corruption, environmental anomalies and so on. Enter the semi-dark sanctum sanctorum resembling the universe, a mystic feeling will envelope you. And then get astounded by a thousand-handed Durga amid scattered thousand Asura heads each resembling the myriad vices.
“We have just tried to re-sensitise the people about what is bad and the eventual victory of good over evil. This is all about hope,” says Sudipto Kumar and organiser. Incidentally the same Puja committee had in 2015 constructed the world’s tallest Durga: 88 feet high.
At neighbouring Tridhara Sanmilani the organisers have brought alive the tribal form of Puja: Rather they have tried to tote up the worship of Mother Durga with a highly crafted ritual of ‘tribal hunt’. “It is not actually a replica but an artist’s imagination of a tribal puja which is quite close to reality” says Gauranga Kuilla a national award winner.
One has to marvel at the minute carvings on painstakingly procured 150 buffalo skulls.
The pandal is aesthetically decorated with dim reddish lights, masks, blazing torches and myriad other artifacts to afford a tribal ambience.
Cut to Bosepukur where the organizers have depicted a pure Hindu Bengali marriage as a Theme invoking the wedding ceremonies of Gods from Shiva-Parvati to Rama-Sita to Brahma and Savitri. “At a time when marital intolerance and broken home have become the order of the day we have tried to show Marriage in our theme by using head gears of the bride and groom, paddy seeds, pitchers, bangles vermillion box etc to construct our pandal,” says an organiser.
At Badamtala Ashar Sangha the artist has used 5 crore brick chips as the prime material to create the interiors of the pandal. The theme here, underscore the superiority of the supreme Mother over the planetary motions. “Her blessings can deliver you from the pains inflicted by the planets or what you call zodiac,” says Anirban Das the artist.
Away at Haatibagan Sarbojonin in North Kolkata the organisers have sought to send across a “positive message” on Durga Pujas through a befitting conjugation of “light and butterflies” the theme objects.
“Today there is so much of darkness and despondency. So we have sought to send across a message of positivism through light and butterfly both of which represent happiness,” says Aniruddha Roychowdhury an organiser.
At Dum Dum Park some 35 km north, the organisers have “tried to look within” appropriately terming their theme “Darshan.” You have to enter the pandal through an imaginary space between two eyes. This signifies perception of inner self through meditation. The ambience inside the pandal tends to resemble the ‘mind’ where you also find the Garbha Griha or sanctum sanctorum of the Mother Goddess.
At Beliaghata in eastern Kolkata, the organizers have invoked the yellow Ambi-taxi quickly fading into history as their theme. The 40-feet high pandal has been designed to look like a highway. An illusion of taxis lined up in particular a manner has been created to mesmerize the visitors who will see the yellow cabs speeding past: perhaps into oblivion. About 250 taxi doors, silencer pipes steering wheels, headlights have been used to decorate the interiors, says Shib Shankra Das the artist.
No wonder with themes ruling the roost this year the mega bonanza of Bengali Navaratra or Durga Puja looks complete.