Puja committees across Kolkata have gone back to ordering bigger Durga idols, unlike the last two years when the pandemic-induced economic slump forced many organisers to opt for smaller ones.
Several puja organisers said they had to settle for smaller budgets in the last two years. This time, they are going big — with the pandal and the idol, if not with the budget.
“From Tallah to Behala, almost all major puja organisers are back to ordering bigger Durga idols as a receding pandemic is prompting many to loosen their purse strings,” said Saswata Basu, of Hatibagan Sarbojanin Durgostav Committee.
Basu, who is also secretary of the Forum for Durgostab, an umbrella body of over 350 puja organisers in the city, was among those who had come together to draw up a 17-point code of conduct for the puja organisers during the pandemic.
While insisting on the use of masks and santisers and thermal screening of the visitors to check their body temperature, the forum had suggested smaller idols so that sanitising them became easier. This time there is no such code for the puja committees.
The organisers, much like the revelers, are keen on embracing festivities minus any terrifying threat of infections.
The police, though, have made it clear that the height of an idol, when carried on a lorry, can’t be more than 16 feet from the ground. A taller idol will get entangled in overhead wires of Circular Railway, which runs along the Hooghly, during immersion.
An idol covered in a plastic sheet at Kumartuli on Sunday. Gautam Bose
“Without a big idol, the puja lacks grandeur,” said Sandipan Banerjee of Behala Notun Dal. “Visitors come to see the idol of the Goddess in all her splendour. So this time we have ordered a 14ft idol.”
Like several other puja committees, the Behala club, too, had restricted the idol size to between 9.5 and 10.5 feet for the last two years. Budgetary constraints and crowd restrictions had left a mark on the size of the idols.
Things have started looking up after two years of muted celebrations, many organisers said.
“Companies are back in talks with us for sponsorships after two years. It’s heartening for us as well as other organisers,” said Jayanta Chatterjee of the Nalin Sarkar Street puja in north Kolkata, which has been a crowd puller for years.
“We have decided to go for a bigger idol this year.” “After two years, we are again receiving orders for bigger idols, more than 12 ft in height,” said Bimal Pal, a veteran artisan in Kumartuli.