Altering idols’ size, testing time for artists
| Date :11-Oct-2020 |
Artisan Subhash Pal working on facials of an idol of Goddess Durga at Bengali Association Hall in Dhantoli. (Pic by Satish Raut)
By Kaushik Bhattacharya :
‘Durga Puja’, the biggest religious festival of Bangali Hindus, is just a few days away. Artisans from West Bengal, who come to city every year to prepare idols of Goddess Durga, are left disappointed. For, orders for idols of Goddess have registered a slump owing to prevailing coronavirus threat. More painful for them is curtailing of height of the idols on which they have already invested precious time, labour and money. The Covid-19 pandemic has cut-short the traditional ‘Durga Pujo’ celebrations to just ‘Ghot pujo’.
The bare minimum rituals for the home-coming of the Goddess with her four children will be performed this year. With celebrations set to be low key, orders for idols of ‘Maa Durga’ have reduced drastically hitting the livelihood of the artisans who are already working on idol-making in city. Restrictions on religious gatherings imposed under the Epidemic Act are still in force due to which the festivity this year between October 22 and 26 would remain merely a symbolic affair. Subhash Pal, an artisan from Krishna Nagar, West Bengal, is disappointed due to no work in Nagpur during ‘Pujo’ this year due to the infectious crisis. Normally, Pal comes to Nagpur during the month of July to finish his work on time. But, this year, due to lockdown, he reached Nagpur just 20 days back. His plan to makeover the lost time and to make good profits dashed as the demand for his artwork has gone down to 25-year low.
Pal, who has been making idols for last 22 years in Nagpur, said, he never had to sit idle during ‘Durga Puja’. But, this year, as compared to an order of at least 100 idols last untill last year, he has to work on just 13 this year. Many of his regular customers (pandals) have not places order. “I have started making idols hoping someone will come at the last moment and Government will allow the Pujo this year as usual. But restriction of hight (4 ft) became a huge burden for artists like me as we have no option but to sell normal idols this year. Still if the idols are not sold, I will be in a big trouble as I already have invested about Rs 3 lakh on the works,” said Pal while talking to The Hitavada at Bengali Association Hall, Chhoti Dhantoli, an allotted place for idol-making businesses in city.
“I have never been in such a crisis with my livelihood,” he said. This year, almost every artisan is set to face same fate like Subhash Pal. Pal, every year, prepares around 100 idols including Goddess Durga, Lord Ganesha, Goddess Kali, Goddess Saraswati, Goddess Laxmi in the city which are costing around Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 each. But, this year he received an order of just 13 idols and selling them at a very nominal rate. “A downturn has been going on since the Bangla month of Chaitra (March). The idols, which I made earlier for other pujas, remain unsold and are getting damaged, causing huge losses,” he added. Like these artisans, the workers who erect beautiful Pandals during ‘Durga Puja’ in the city are also from West Bengal and their story is also the same. A huge work force, who visit city every year during the festival period and erect pandals on different themes, also got affected due to pandemic.