On Ashtami, as the pushpanjali mantra uttered by the priest blared on the loudspeaker in the streets, like many of her neighbours this year, Debadrita Das sat at home, away from the pandal and the pandemic, and repeated it word for word. Only, unlike her neighbours, she had an idol in front of her — that too made with her own hands.

The 24-year-old from CJ Block had created a 10cm idol out of materials found at home. “I love craft. Even during the lockdown, I was baking and making greeting cards. During the Puja too, I wanted to do something creative. Since stepping outside was unsafe, I decided to create a Durga at home to provide the right ambience.”

Initially, she had thought of painting the goddess and framing it. But soon she realised that it would only be an idol that could create the Puja feeling.

The inspiration came from YouTube videos she had spotted before Ganesh Chaturthi of people creating mini Ganesha idols with air dried clay. “This is a product on sale in the market that does not need to be burnt like the conventional clay. It hardens on its own in 90 minutes if left in the open.”

She got to work with six days to go for Sashthi. “I used my tools for fondant cakes to give shape to the lump,” smiled the home baker. Odds and ends, like butter paper and cartons, were at hand to decorate the idol. “There were enough boxes lying about from the home deliveries we had ordered during lockdown. With those, I made brown paper fans to place in the background. The butter papers and A4 sheets were cut to shape and pasted together to give a faux shola look to the ornaments of the mini goddess. The hands were stuck to the torso with toothpick. Alpona was painted using white acrylic paint. To add a touch of green to the look, she repotted stems of plants from the terrace garden in discarded clay tea cups. “I finished on Chaturthi and placed it next to my computer at my work station at home,” she said. “It made me feel nice and festive as I worked from home on Sashthi. Then Ma and I offered anjali here on Ashtami.”

Now that Puja is over, Debadrita is planning to dismantle the decor. “I have made each piece such that they can be easily removed. I make greeting cards, so each item can be separately used to do up blank cards,” she smiled. The idol itself might be put in a glass box and showcased on the rack.