Scores of Kolkatans have been waking up to a pleasant surprise, alpana painted at the thresholds of their homes.
Three Kolkatans are behind the surprise — a teacher, an artiste and a social worker. In the run-up to Diwali, they reach a neighbourhood early in the morning. They select some houses and are done before the sun is shining brightly. On most occasions, they just paint and leave.
On Thursday, the group was at Bowbazar, painting outside a handful of homes on Akrur Dutta Lane and adjoining areas.
“There is an element of innocent surprise in what we are doing. I want people to keep thinking who did this and why. I want people to believe that Kolkata is still that mad city where people spread festive cheer without the expectation of any return favour. The idea is to keep extending frontiers,” said Mudar Patherya, a communications consultant and social worker, who has been the driving force behind the campaign, which began in 2021.
The threshold of a 142-year-old home on Shyambazar Street was painted on Tuesday. This was one of the few houses that got the alpana for the second time in two years.
“It is a wonderful initiative. The first time (last year), it was our maid who saw the team painting and informed us. That is how I got to know these people. To decorate the homes of complete strangers, is unthinkable. It shows their genuine love for the city,” said Satinath Bose, 69, one of the residents.
Apart from Patherya, “these people” includes Ratnabali Ghosh, a former teacher at The BSS School and Prasanta Sain, a professional alpana artiste.
The campaign started by pure chance. Just before Diwali in 2021, Ghosh was painting alpana at a house opposite Patherya’s apartment on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue near Rabindra Sarobar.
Patherya saw Ghosh painting and asked her if she would also paint his home. Ghosh readily said yes. Her mother, Prativa Sengupta was a student of Nandalal Bose. She was the art teacher at Loreto House for 32 years.
“My mother taught me alpana. I became so fond of it that I would volunteer to decorate the homes of friends,” said Ghosh, 70, who has had a 24-year teaching stint at The BSS School.
There was an organic expansion of the campaign. From Patherya’s apartment, it spread to his building, then the neighbourhood and then to several parts of Kolkata.
In the run-up to Diwali, since 2021, the team has painted over 50 homes across Kolkata. They were bolstered with the inclusion of Prasanta Sain, a professional alpana artiste, last year.
This Saturday, the trio will again be painting homes in south Kolkata, in and around Rabindra Sarobar.