Nothing can dampen the spirit of Kolkata’s Durga Puja, not even a pandemic.
Housing complexes in the city are taking necessary precautions and doing all they can to ensure that the festivities are free of hiccup and comply with government and high court directives.
The festival committee at South City on Prince Anwar Shah Road has created a team of 12 persons who will be the only ones allowed inside the pandal apart from the priest. This team will be responsible for all the ritual preparations and no one else will be allowed inside.
Suryadipta Datta, vice president of the committee, said: “Apart from mandatory stands for sanitisers and masks, we have created a demarcated area with road barriers, and employed special security to ensure that this barrier is not violated.”
The society has also done away with cultural programmes — as ordered by Calcutta High Court — and will instead be using technology to bring residents together. “All the rituals including the pushpanjali will be streamed live on our YouTube channel,” said Datta.
“We will send flowers to individual flats so that they can offer anjali from their homes, after which the flowers will be collected and deposited at Ma Durga’s feet. In the evenings, cultural events like dancing, singing and drama will also be uploaded online,” said Datta.
Rosedale Garden in New Town has had to make the tough choice of moving their Puja from the sprawling community hall to two open pandals. These can be accessed from all four sides, in keeping with the government directives.
To avoid crowding, the pandal with the protima will only admit 15 people at a time, with designated entry and exit points. There won’t be any chairs inside the pandal. The other pandal will be for people waiting for their turn, and will provide relief in case of rain.
“We will be sanitising the entire space thrice everyday,” said Rana Mukherjee, secretary of Rosedale's utsav committee. “This year, there will be a flowerless pushpanjali and no chopped fruits or prasad will be distributed, although we will accept whole fruits to give before the deity. We have also marked spaces in the pandal for people to stand, to maintain social distancing,”
Organising a pandemic-friendly Puja at someplace like Shukhobrishti in New Town, which has almost 100,000 residents, is even more tricky.
“While the complex initially had only one Puja, five smaller ones have emerged over the years,” said Goutam Guha, secretary of A Block’s Puja committee. “This year there will be two more new Pujas. Although this is purely coincidental, it will greatly help in dispersing the crowd and reducing the number of people flocking to a single pandal.”
A Block has 1,500 flats with over 10,000 residents and organises one of Shukhobrishti’s more popular Pujas. This year though, the committee is operating on a smaller budget.
“Only us 12 committee members will be allowed into the pandal, and we have created a 100m boundary around it to prevent any violation of this rule,” Guha said. “In case there arises a need to quarantine someone, we have 20 vacant flats in the block that can be used as isolation centres. While we have done away with cultural programmes and collective bhog, we will still distribute packed lunches to residents through coupons to carry on the tradition.”
Shrachi Lakewoods, near Maniktala, is planning to bar outsiders and return to a traditional bhog format from last year’s packed lunches.
“We will not be allowing any outsiders this time,” said Bappaditya Roy, one of the Puja organisers. “There will be plenty of sanitisers and masks for residents in front of the pandal. While nothing is set in stone, we really do wish to bring back the traditional bhog by utilising our huge space, in a format where small groups are scattered maintaining social distancing.”
