Rath Yatra on Tuesday marks the beginning of the countdown to Durga Puja for many.
Several puja organisers will ceremonially start their pandals or making their idols on this day.
Durga Puja begins on October 20 this year.
Members of the Kumartuli Sarbojonin Durgostab Committee in north will perform a ritual for the ceremonial start. Bosepukur Sitala Mandir Durgotsab Committee in Kasba will begin construction of the pandal structure. Others like Tala Barowari in the north and Shibmandir in the south have already started working on their themes and will kick off their preparations on Tuesday.
“After the kathamo puja is over, we will hand over the flowers and a piece of wood from the structure to our artisan in Kumartuli to start making the idol,” said Debasish Bhattacharya of Kumartuli Sarbojonin.
In the modern Puja, the theme maker often comes ahead of the idol maker.
Partho Ghosh of Shibmandir Sarbojonin Durgotsab Committee said: “We have finalised our main artist for the theme that we proposed to do from the Government College of Art and Craft. We have asked our idol maker to meet on Tuesday.”
With themes dominating the structure of puja pandals across Kolkata, several organisers did not want to discuss what will be on offer this year.
Many others with limited budgets and having to cope with the uncertainties of a post-Covid world are still struggling to organise their finances. Their work on the ground will begin much later.