Riya Sharma and Shrabasti Mallik took a tour of the puja pandals in the city and found out that while some committees have decided to go simple, some are heading for a real extravagant affair
If last year was all about themes and recreating world events, this year the Durga puja favour has throttled down to an extent but in a good and simple way. The Chittaranjan Park B Block Puja Samiti, soon to be Christened Maa Sarada Udyan officially on Shashti, resembled a very traditional Kolkata mandir — muted tones with very little yet intricate detailing in the borders. For the ones who have never been to the City of Joy, the decoration on the ceiling of the pandal being erected resembled the pattern one can find on the ceiling of the Chattarpur mandir in Delhi.
When we walked into the B-Block grounds, we found a few craftsmen busy giving the final touches to the pandal decoration but the place did not look as extravagant as last year, where the theme was puja samagri with the pandal in the shape of akalash. “This time we do not have a theme but we are keeping the festivity very simple and traditional — like the ones you have in established families in Kolkata,” said Sombhu Bagchi, general secretary, who willingly let us know that it was not because they initially wanted to portray something so simple but because they faced a financial crunch. “This year we had to cut down on a lot of things. There was such a huge cut on the budget that we had to ask people to sponsor for thebhog and prashad in kind,” he shared.
The most disappointing aspect for him was the fact that most of their bigger sponsors had backed out in them at the last moment. “A lot of of regular sponsors, who have been with us for many years, initially showed interest but backed out in the end,” he pointed out. It is perhaps for this financial constraint that the stage for cultural performances has also reduced in size. “Even the number of performances have been cut down to half and there are no big names associated with the puja this time,” said the GS who believes that these will not affect the footfall during the four days.
On the other hand, things looked pretty fancy (read large scale) at the K-Block Cooperative Ground Durga Puja Samity. The theme, as they told us, this year is gram Bangla (rural Bengal). With the traditional khor (hay) roof and mud walls, the pandal, although incomplete, looked like a thatched hut from a typical Bengal village.
The entirepandal depicting the above theme has been created by eco-friendly material such as thatch, jute, mud, bamboo and most importantly, the bark of the areca nut (supari) tree. “The bark is eco-friendly and earlier we used to source it from the outskirts of Bengaluru but this time we had a local supplier who provided us with it. In fact, we have been serving bhog to devotees in these plates,” said Indrojit Sen, organisation secretary.
During a brief walk through of the pandal interiors we found some bottles of chemical paints which were being used to paint the idols. When we asked the committee members, they very conveniently shrugged off the air of ambiguity by saying, “No, everything that we are using here is eco-friendly. There is a possibility that they are using natural colours in those bottles.”
Well, there might have been a possibility that the bottles contained strainer but when you find new bottles of chemical paints from three different brands, you are bound to question. We digged further details and found that the budget, only for thepandal, in itself, is above four lakhs. “We have all established sponsors backing us,” Sen added.
While B-Block’s immersion will be done within the locality, K-Block plans to immerse in the Yamuna, adding to the ‘eco-friendly’ stand.
Goddess in making
Chandi Pal, in his late 70s, sat in one corner of the CR Park Kali Bari premises, rolling jute fibre to make the mane of Maa Durga’svahan, lion. For over a decade he had moulded thepratima for the Kashmiri Gate Durga Puja and he told us that now his health does not permit him to do so. “It is a family tradition that has come down from generations. My father and ancestors used to braid mother’s hair with their hands but now people are using ready-made wigs,” he said braiding a lock of hair with his nimble fingers.
One stroll in the far end of the area and you will know how the Durga pratima is made. Karigars from various districts of Bengal like Nadia, Krishnanagar and adjacent areas of Kumortuli in Kolkata (the hub of idol craftsmen) have made the Kali Bari premises their home for the last three months and are bringing alive the spirit of the Goddess — just by the sheer amount of dedication that they give to every inch of each idol. Finished and unfinished idols of Maa Durga and her children crammed the small makeshift area and we found Madhusudhan Pramanik applying spray paint to the saree of goddess Saraswati. He clarified to us that it was not cloth but made of mud mixed with rag. One would not even be aware of this fact if it is not pin pointed out to them because the finished piece looks exactly like a real saree.
Crafts from Kolkata
While taking a look of the entire pandal at B- Block, we noticed that the ceiling of the main pandal has been created with the paperwork of cardboard and cartons. The intricate design of flowers with borders representing architecture of any temple in Kolkata has been the idea behind creating such design. “It took us one month to design the pandal. We cut the design from cardboard, make a shape on it with chalk and then paint it with terracotta,” shared Pankaj Purokait from Diamond Harbour, Kolkata.
Pankaj has been crafting and creating beautiful designs from many years and he proudly shared with us that it was he who came up with the idea to use paperwork. “As most of us are focussing on eco-friendly pandals, it was necessary to cut down on heavy chemical paints and do something out of the box. The colours that we have chosen are muted tones and to add more sparkle and shine to the whole pandal, we have placed a halogen light in front of it,” he concluded.