Tapan Rudra Pal is no longer in a hurry and finds time in the afternoons to sit for lunch.

Till last year, with less than two months till the Puja, the artisan at Kumartuli would be forced to skip lunch. With rows of idols waiting to be readied and labourers moving around in a frenzy inside his studio, Pal could squeeze out just enough time for a cup of tea.

This year it’s different.

Puja is less than two months away and the idol-making hub in north Calcutta, which hums with action in the run-up to the festivity, is plunged into gloom. As orders for Durga idols have sharply declined compared with previous years, most studios are empty and the usual rush to meet deadlines is missing.

Artisans believe the Covid-19 blow has landed them in the worst financial crisis in at least five decades.

Orders

Kumartuli has so far received orders for Durga Puja idols worth less than Rs 15 crore, artisans said. Last year, it had received orders worth around Rs 50 crore. If the figures are correct, Kumartuli has garnered just 30 per cent of last year’s business.

And last year wasn’t exactly great — several big pujas had to curtail their budgets as the economy was on a downward swing.

“Last year was bad compared with previous ones. But nothing like this time. Organisers are not even turning up to book idols. The ones that are calling up are seeking idols for half the last year’s price,” said Babu Pal, the secretary of the Kumartuli Mritshilpi Sankritik Samity.

“The organisers that had last year bought idols in the price range of Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000 are unwilling to pay more than Rs 25,000 this year.”

Every year, over half of Calcutta’s 4,500-odd community pujas buy idols from Kumartuli. The bulk of the bookings are done by July, latest by mid-August. Committee members would turn up in hordes and scan idols across studios before placing their orders.

The goddess would usually be at least 12ft tall. “This year organisers are looking for idols that are 6-7ft high,” said Kaushik Ghosh, an artisan, who was busy packing a two-and-a-half foot idol, the shortest by any standard, to be sent to Sweden.

Assistants and helpers

Fewer orders and shorter idols mean lesser work for assistants and helpers at Kumartuli, the bulk of whom are from Nadia, Howrah, East Midnapore, and North and South 24-Parganas.

“Kaaj i nei (There is no work),” said Uttam Pal, a seasoned hand among the assistants. “I have been hopping around studios from Kumartuli to Ultadanga to Tollygunge looking for work. Ei somoy (this time, referring to the run-up to the Puja), bhabtey paren (can you imagine)?”

In his 50s, Pal is from Taherpur, near Chakdaha, in Nadia. His daughter is pursuing BCom and son is in Class X. Pal is part of the 3,200-odd army of assistants and helpers that plays a key role in giving shape to idols.

“These workers would get paid between Rs 10,000 and Rs 30,000 a month this time of the year, depending on their skill sets,” said Akhil Kumar Ghonta, of the Kumartuli Mritshilpi Karigar Samity.

Only around 700 of these workers are now engaged in Kumartuli. Many like Pari-mal Ranjit of Canning and Saktori Pal of Burdwan are sitting at home, counting days for the pandemic to come to an end.

“We are surviving on the little we could save over the years,” said Dipankar Pal, a helper from Chakdaha. “There is no hope round the corner.”

Labourers

Apart from assistants and helpers, a large number of labourers would turn up at Kumartuli around the time idols were to be taken to pandals. Most of them are residents of the Sunderbans, Canning, Baruipur, Joynagar and their adjacent areas in South 24-Parganas.

Each group of labourers would take Rs 5,000 from each organiser to carry the idols from a studio to the pandal and place them on their perch.

“They would turn up in groups of 25-30 each and around 100 such groups would arrive at Kumartuli just before the Puja,” said Mintu Pal, an artisan. “They would stay back and return home after immersion.”

This time, around six or seven groups have said they would come despite the risk of the coronavirus. The rest are not sure about what to do.

Others

Each artisan in Kumartuli depends heavily on different sets of people for their supplies of straw, mud, bamboo, dress materials and ornaments. Suppliers bring the items from East and West Midnapore, Burdwan, and North and South 24-Parganas. Bamboo is mostly sourced from Murshidabad and Nadia.

Last year, ornaments worth around Rs 3.75 crore were used to deck out the idols. A family of four usually works on different kinds of ornaments and dress materials. Around 400 families work on shola or pith ornaments.

“A majority of them are without any order this year. The orders that have come add up to a little over Rs 1 crore. Imagine the slump!” Babu Pal, of the Kumartuli Mritshilpi Sankritik Samity, said.