The little clay cart that Shudraka crafted in his fifth century Sanskrit play will be the seat on which the goddess will be invoked this autumn at Newtown Sarbojanin Durgotsav. Theme maker Anirban Das is creating a clay toy universe that the title of Mrichchhakatik inspires.

Speaking on the sidelines of the khuti puja taking place on Saturday at City Square, the pandal site in the Clock Tower ground, he said: “(Protagonist) Charudatta’s little son was happy to play with a clay cart in the play, just as gods can be content with offerings that seem apparently trivial. So the pandal, spread over 23,000 sq ft and rising to a height of about 70 ft, will be decorated with clay toys, dolls and carts. The children at play with the toys will be Lord Jagannath himself, along with his siblings Balaram and Subhadra. Visitors will be beckoned towards the pandal by little Jagannath.”

Aparajita Adhya at New Town Sarbojanin khuti puja

Das said he is deliberately choosing a simple structure of straw, bamboo poles and clay as he wants to veer away from the image of opulence and grandeur of last year when he had modelled the pandal on a temple inspired by Kangra paintings of Himachal Pradesh. “Such clay carts were a product of the Indus Valley civilisation and are still found in rural Jhargram or Midnapore,” he said.

New Town’s biggest puja, with a budget of Rs 2 crore last year, though just into its third edition, is already throwing the gauntlet at Sreebhumi. It has made it to the immersion carnival on Red Road for two years in succession since its inception. At the khuti puja of New Town Sarbojanin, the local MLA Tapash Chatterjee announced: “Agami diney amra Sreebhumi ke harabo (We will defeat Sreebhumi in the future),” a comment that drew cheers all around.

When minister and Sreebhumi Sporting Club president Sujit Bose reached the venue soon after, he took the challenge with a smile. “Even this puja is my own (Bose, as puja secretary Samaresh Das pointed out, is the chief patron).” Sreebhumi, as reported last Friday in The Telegraph Salt Lake, has chosen to model its pandal this year on the Venkataswara temple in Tirupati.

Also in attendance were the actress duo from the cast of Eta Amader Golpo, Aparajita Adhya and Manasi Sinha. “We women are organising the puja this year in our locality, at Behala Jagarani,” Adhya said. Sinha urged women to come forward in bigger numbers to leave a better world for the future generations. “Men have failed as situations like Chopra and Ariadaha are still happening. We have to ensure that our children do not leave the state,” said the candid actress, referring to incidents of atrocities that have been reported in those areas.
Techno India Group co-chairperson Manasi Roychowdhury urged the organisers to tread the path of sustainability. “Thank you for not trying to install air-conditioners despite the humidity,” she said.