preview to the pujas

well slowly and slowly the craze of the pujas is spreading over the whole city of kolkata . heres a preview of few of the puja pandals being made as published in a local daily .

The offbeat 8

Tamarind seed Classicists scoff at them. Award-givers view them with mixed feelings. But when it comes to pulling in the crowd, nothing works like novelty. So, year after year, theme-makers look for an ingredient, yet untried, for their Puja addresses to have the shock-and-awe effect on pandal-hoppers. Here are some that are bound to raise eyebrows — and footfalls — in Durga Puja 2005. Blade: Prepare for a close shave at 22 Pally in Hazra. The razor’s edge — 1.5 lakh of them — is what will decorate the pandal, and the Devi, at the 61-year-old puja. “We are breaking each blade into eight parts and using the pieces for a collage on a plaster of Paris base,” says theme-maker Maichel Bose. The theme: the fourth estate under threat. The panels on the walls portray real-life flashbacks of attacks on scribes, Durga herself wields a camera and a press card. At her feet are three asuras — a politician, a policeman and a hoodlum. The chalchitra is a giant newspaper. Bread: After the morning shave, it’s time for breakfast. Parijat Club in Kasba is serving up a bread spread. The pandal itself is a sprawling old Calcutta house with a courtyard in the middle. The walls are being done up with panels inspired by Rathin Mitra’s drawings of Town Hall, Victoria Memorial, Kalighat temple and other landmark buildings. Even the hand-pulled rickshaw is given a boost in bread. Every part is being used — the sliced-off sides, the toasted pieces grounded to dust — to bring in variety. “The trick is to toast the bread to various degrees of brown and black,” smiles Santanu Raychowdhury of the club. Two huge clay lions modelled on those at Victoria Memorial will greet visitors at the gate. The idol will be a traditional ekchala one. Paddy and husk: After breakfast, it’s straight to lunch with Ramkrishna Sebak Samity of Dover Terrace. Ganesha, the great gourmand among gods, is being created with 70 quintals of paddy. Figures of the elephant god, big and small, and lotuses will decorate the walls coated with husk pasted on jute. “The idea came from a family of peasants from Mogra, which is spearheading the construction. We had to buy a Matador van full of husk,” says Madan Banerjee. The 65-year-old puja has turned back to a 14th century idol in south Karnataka for its 14-armed goddess. She will be accompanied by Laxmi and Saraswati, but there is no place for Kartik or Ganesha in the frame. Spices: The grocer’s list couldn’t be more exhaustive — mustard, cardamom, turmeric, lentil… Kishorebahini Athletic Club on Motilal Nehru Road has used it all at its pandal. Sample the ingredients of this panel of Mahishasuramardini at war with the demon — the divine skin is of moong daal, her flying locks of coriander seed, clothes of lentil, the lotus in hand of mustard seeds, the thunder of sagu, her lips are blackish red with dry chilli and her eyeballs of fiery-red rithey. The story of Durga’s genesis will be told through the masala panels, also depicting Rama (of Akalbodhan myth) and King Surath and Samadhi (the first men to have worshipped the goddess on earth). The pillars will be of tej pata, chilli, bori and small papad. “Last year, we had pleased the kids (with a pandal of lozenges). This time we are out to woo the kitchen queens,” laughs general secretary Ashok Mitra. Balls and balloons: This is joyland for children, what with 20,000 balls and balloons filling up the pandal in a riot of colours. From football to cricket to table tennis, there are plastic balls to play every game in Paschim Putiary. There is no risk of the balloons deflating either. Apart from a few big ones that are normal air-filled ones, the rest are used to keep fishing nets afloat in rivers. “They come from Namkhana in South 24-Parganas. They are usually white. We got them coloured,” explains Sajal Dutta of The United Club near Tollygunge Karunamoyee bridge. All of them are getting illustrations — of religious motifs or cartoon characters, depending on whether they are in the pandal or on the wall outside. The pond beside the pandal will be crowded with visitors — a shark, penguins, dolphins, swans with Spiderman and Winnie the Pooh for company. And yes, para kids are eager to supervise the work, as they are usually allowed to take their pick on the way back. Spice Lac: Two dolls’ houses are being built at two corners of town — at Palli Unnayan in Paschim Putiary and Darpanarayan Thakur Street of Posta. Clay from mounds of termite is serving as the base for lac figurines. The clay is first baked and then the molten lac is used as a coat. The 5,000 dolls at the Rs 3.5-lakh puja down south vary in height from four inches to six feet. Up north, the pandal has been divided into three spheres — of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar — with the 2,000 dolls divided accordingly. Alum: Wait for the lights to turn on at Trikon Park in Chakraberia. The effect should be dazzling. A temple of alum has been created by Dipak Ghosh and team. Such is the weight of the substance (4.5 tonne) that iron grids have to support the pandal in place of the familiar bamboo poles. “It is their diamond jubilee. So we wanted to link it to crystal,” Ghosh says. A lot of research has gone into the production of the crystalline alum and the adhesive to make the curved figurines stick to the alum tiles. The lighting will be done by a creative illumination designer. Pradip Rudrapal’s goddess will be all-colour amidst the milky whiteness. Bread Tamarind seeds: A tamarind tree in a corner of the field was the inspiration behind Haridevpur Adarsha Pally’s pandal. “Not a single seed came from the tree, though. We had to collect it all (20 lakh) from South 24-Parganas and Midnapore where they eat it fried and therefore store it,” says Samiran Ganguly, an organiser. It is also used for varnishing. Seven varieties are being made of the seed and its chaff, smashed and grounded. This accounts for the variety of colours on the panels on rural life. This is the club’s first shot at giving the neighbouring big pujas a run for their footfall count. Residents are lending a hand to allow themselves the luxury of a theme puja without a burgeoning bill.

Sudeshna Banerjee Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya and Sudeshna Banerjee