By Biswamoy Mukherjee
Kolkata, Aug 29 (UNI) After two economically ruinous Covid years, Kolkata’s well-known potters’ colony of Kumartuli is buzzing with exercise forward of the upcoming Durga Puja carnival, with the idol makers and artisans anticipating good enterprise, however spiraling labour price and uncooked materials bills.
With little greater than a month left for the beginning of Bengal’s – in addition to Japanese India’s – largest pageant, the temper is upbeat within the North Kolkata hub as potters give form to idols of goddess
Durga of assorted sizes and hues, as ordered by organisers of group and family pujas. Including to the joyous ambiance, the state’s day by day depend of recent Covid instances has additionally come
right down to beneath 25.
“The fundamental construction is both full or at a sophisticated stage of labor for a lot of the orders
I’ve obtained. Some idols have already obtained the primary coat of paint,” China Pal, who in 1994 turned the primary girl idol maker of Kumartuli, advised UNI.
Pal, now in her 40s, makes the idols of main group pujas within the metropolis like Mitali Sangha, Subhas Sangha and Highland Park. Apart from, her idols are trucked to far-off locations like Srinagar
and Bhupal.
“We had very robust instances in 2020 and 2021 after Covid broke out. This time the scenario is best.
I’ve obtained variety of orders.
“In actual fact, I may have taken extra orders, however needed to refuse some for paucity of time,” stated Pal,
who broke the glass ceiling by coming into the career after the dying of her father Iswar
Hemanta Kumar Pal.
Through the years, she has turn out to be a cult determine of kinds along with her common media appearances and a much-publicised journey to China at Beijing’s invitation.
One other celebrated idol-maker Mintu Paul can also be pleased with the enterprise pattern this yr.
“The state of affairs is significantly better. The organisers are additionally preferring greater idols of 10-11 ft. Final
yr, a lot of the organisers labored on shoestring budgets due to the financial affect of
Covid and the lockdowns. So we needed to decrease our charges. The idols have been additionally smaller,” Mintu Pal
advised UNI.
Monti Pal, who has made a reputation for himself together with his fibreglass idols that are exported, nevertheless, felt enterprise was but to succeed in pre-Covid ranges.
“However sure, the market is best. Final yr, I received solely three export orders. However this time, I’ve received 5 orders from locations like New Jersey, Boston, London and Bangkok. Earlier than Covid struck, I used to
obtain 6-7 orders,” Monti Pal advised UNI.
The pageant, recognized for its grandeur and creativity, comes on the tail finish of the monsoon, and poses
a problem for the clay idol makers. With the monsoons but to ebb this yr, the scenario is not any totally different.
“The clay usually absorbs the moisture, and we now have to redo the work, resulting in time and price overruns,” stated a labourer Bapi Sardar.
Nevertheless, greater than the vagaries of climate, it’s the rise in enter price that could be a reason behind concern
for the artisans.
Even Ganga mati (soil from the banks of the river Ganga), thought-about very appropriate for making idols due to its smoothness, has turn out to be dearer.
“We’re pressured to buy Ganga mati at a premium due to its scarcity. The motor boats are making much less variety of journeys to gather the soil following the rise in diesel charges,” stated Mintu Pal.
From ropes to nails, all the pieces has turn out to be dearer.
“The price of ropes has gone up by 50 %, and that of nails by 20 %. The identical is the case with different substances like wooden and straw,” stated Mintu, whose clients embody marquee metropolis group pujas like Santosh Mitra Sq., Vivekananda Sporting, Salt Lake FD Block and Beniatola.
Monti Pal can also be feeling the pinch.
“The price of fibre-glass uncooked supplies has doubled, whereas the organisers will not be prepared to extend
the price range for the idols,“ stated Monti.
There was a pointy rise in labour wages too. The labourers couldn’t go to different states for
work over the last two years following the Covid restrictions and needed to accept decrease wages.
“Now they’ve extra choices. So whereas they labored on a day by day cost of Rs 1000-1200, this time the charges have elevated to Rs 1800-2000,” stated Mintu Pal.
Based on Hindu mythology, Goddess Durga, accompanied by her 4 youngsters – Ganesh, Kartik, Lakshmi and Saraswati – descend on earth for 5 days yearly to go to her dad and mom and combat evil,
occasioning the celebrations within the Indian month of Ashwin that corresponds to September-October.
Astride a lion, the goddess wields an array of weapons in her 10 fingers in symbolic illustration of Shakti, or girl energy, and slays the demon Mahishasur earlier than returning to her husband Shiva in Mount Kailash.
The puja rituals start on ‘Shashthi’ or the sixth lunar day – and culminate in ‘Dashami’ (the tenth lunar day when the idols are immersed in rivers and different water our bodies.
Durga puja will likely be celebrated October 1-5 this yr.
UNI BM SSP
