Themes have once again come to dominate the Kolkata Durga Puja pandals with the organisers decorating their marquees after numerous complicated themes drawing crowd in lakhs.
Take for instance, the idol of Mother Goddess at Raja Santosh Mitra Square where the Mother has been covered with more than 50 kg of gold worth about Rs 200 crore. When asked to comment on the lavish spending, Pradip Ghosh, a BJP leader and main organiser, said it was all given by the companies and they would take them away after the Pujas.
Sajal Ghosh, general secretary of the club, said except the arms that are made of silver, the entire idol of Mother is wrapped in gold. The implication: “As the MNCs are making gold ornaments with machines, it has rendered thousands of gold workers in Bengal jobless. But by doing this, we want to show only Lord Viswakarma can make such things and without his blessings, no one can do this kind of engineering work.” Ghosh further said no machine has been employed in the work.
The interior of the pandal has been shaped after the sheesh mahal using tonnes of glass while the exterior is a replica of Mayapur’s ISKCON temple.
Down South Kolkata the theme of Chetla Agrani a Durga Puja organised by State Minister Firhad Hakim is “heritage Kolkata” or the Kolkata “from then to now.” As you enter the marquise you are welcomed by all landmarks of traditional Kolkata from Victoria Memorial to Octorlony’s Monument to Writers’ Buildings. Interspersed among these numerous historical buildings are traditional artifacts from old records, to gramophones and their gradual journey towards the modern gadget-based world, to Tagore’s poetry to.
The imposing tall and round-shaped pillars replicating the gothic architecture and a replica of a standard zamindari household where the “Babu” and the “Biwi” engage in talks are scenes that will definitely enamour the visitor.
Cut to Tridhara Sanmilani where the organizers have decked up the marquise with a theme that they call “dristhikon” implying point of view. Here the Mother Goddess appears inside a lotus and is represented in all sides by three dimensional portraits of numerous renowned women from Maa Shaarada Devi to Mother Teresa.
“We have tried to show that women are basically the embodiment Mother Durga who manifests in each of them,” said an organiser of the club.
A mile away the Badamtala Ashar Sangha have brought in a new concept with an idol of Mother Durga carrying no arms. “Here the Mother is bestowing peace on the world,” which is the most important precondition for modern living, an organiser said.
Themes apart, there are traditional Durga Pujas, too, which pull lakhs of visitors without changing their style from the past 100 years or even more. Bagbazar Sarbajaneen in North Kolkata and Ekdalia Evergreen Club in South Kolkata are two major examples of traditional Pujas.
Meanwhile, Kolkata have witnessed about 20-30 lakh pandal hoppers per day since the Tritiya or the third day of the festival, police sources said.
“It is astonishing to see lakhs of people roam the streets enjoying the Pujas throughout the night. We don’t have similar thing in our country,” said Alister from USA.
Like Alister a whole German family have extended their stay in Kolkata to witness Durga Pujas. “This is the biggest celebration — rather carnival on earth,” Rudolf one of the members of the family says adding they have travelled more than 200 km in past four days “whole night” watching Pujas. “It is exquisite,” they said.