Kolkata has always stunned the entire world with its creative charm which comes out best for the public on the occasion of Dussehra. The Barisha Club Durga Puja Committee in Behala has chosen the theme of migrant laborers this year and depicted the goddess as a migrant mother with her children.
The club intends to highlight the plight of migrant workers who were left without jobs and forced to walk for hundreds of kilometers to find shelter in their home towns during the pandemic.
Goddess Durga is re-incarnated in the idol as a saree-clad migrant mother with her child Kartik on her hip. Behind the statue of Durga are Goddess Lakshmi – a girl with an owl in her arms and Goddess Saraswati with her swan. There is a fourth idol with an elephant symbolic of Lord Ganesha. On completion of the pandal, these murtis will be placed in a way as if they are walking towards a smaller, more traditional image of Ma Durga – a halo with 10 hands.
Pallab Bhowmick’s Ma Durga for the Pujo this year, as a migrant worker with her children.
Very evocative. pic.twitter.com/aAlJVI9XKO— Joy Bhattacharjya (@joybhattacharj) October 16, 2020
The one-of-a-kind earthen statues are created by Rintu Das, a graduate of the Government College of Art and Craft.
The idols are being given finishing touches at the studio by an idol maker called Pallab Bhaumik under Das’s directions.
The pandal comprises of bamboo poles and jute sacks as major props. The sacks are a symbol of the relief that the club distributed to the destitute families in the form of rice, pulses, and other dry rations. Once the pandal is ready there will be elements of a relief distribution camp, said Das.
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Posted by Barisha Club on Wednesday, October 14, 2020
“No pandal can fully capture the plight of workers during the lockdown. But we can at least show some empathy,” said Debaprosad Bose, a founder-member of the club and one of the organizers.