Sector V may not be a residential area but anyone driving through still caught a glimpse of an idol, that too one made of fabric.
Students of Techno India Group — their schools, college and university — worked together to build an eight-foot-tall Durga. While the base was made of wood and body thermocol, it was all covered with cloth.
“Architecture is when engineering meets art. My students got some practical experience of building something beautiful through this idol-making project,” said Rosi Sarkar, head of the university’s architecture department. Four students worked together at a time, for weeks, on different parts of the idol. They were guided by sketches and designs created by art teachers of the schools.
“Besides being a first-year architecture student, I run a jewellery-making business and so I particularly enjoyed making the jewellery for Durga,” said Riddhima Datta. “I usually work on clay but this project would have required too much clay so we stuck to cardboard cut-outs and wrapped them in fabric. The final look is gorgeous,” said the student who had never seen a fabric goddess before.
The idol was on display through the Pujas and Riddhima brought her friends and family over to see her work.
Unveiling the puja were the likes of former police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti and film director Arindam Sil. While Sil complimented the idol and said Techno India was synonymous with innovation, Chakrabarti called the audience to pray to Durga for peace in Ukraine and Israel.
Manoshi Roy Chowdhury,co-chairperson, Techno India Group, shared with the audience how the group had created a Durgamade of waste items last year. “It was made of discarded materials collected at our various campuses. And we are proud to announce that in 2023 that idol is on display at Sovabazar Sarbajanin Durgotsav as they have an eco-friendly theme,” she said.