Some New Town housing complexes take pride in the alpona they draw during Durga puja. The Telegraph Salt Lake puts the spotlight on two of the best.

Alaktika housing complex

All footsteps headed for the covered space housing the goddess were stopping at the four-point crossing on the approach to the puja venue. It is here that a beautiful circular alpona about 22ft in diameter was drawn. Some took pictures while others clicked selfies with the street art as backdrop.

A gigantic motif decorates the four-point crossing en route to the Alaktika puja pandal from the gate. Picture sourced by the correspondent

“The alpona is a speciality of our complex’s puja,” said Mrinmoy Biswas, secretary of the housing complex in Action Area IID. “We are doing it from 2011, which was the third year of our puja. There was a break of two or three years in between but otherwise we do it every year.”

The credit goes to Tapas Debnath, an artiste from Birati, who takes on the responsibility every year guided by Jyotibindu Choudhury, a resident. “He gives Tapas ideas but because of the pandemic, we discouraged him as well as other residents from coming down this time,” Biswas said.

Debnath started work on Tritiya and completed early on Panchami. “He must have worked all night!” said vice-president Arpan Pal.

Another motif before the goddess Picture sourced by the correspondent

The committee members are full of praise for the artist. “It is more his passion than profession. He drew another alpona in front of the goddess, about 17.5ft in diameter. But because the colour of the columns was not matching with his alpona colour scheme, he painted the columns on his own,” said Subrata Dasgupta, joint treasurer.

Enamel paint, used for wall painting, is applied for the alpona. “The colour usually stays till the next monsoon. The remnants are washed off with soap water before the Puja and a fresh alpona is drawn,” added Pal.

A sanitiser bottle finds pride of place next to the baskets of petals collected for anjali at Baisakhi Abasan. Picture by Debasmita Bhattacharjee

Moonbeam

The complex touched up last year’s alpona but the effect was no less stunning. “A brother-sister resident duo had drawn it last year,” said Subho Dasgupta, treasurer of Moonbeam Apartment Owners Association. “It was in good condition so some resident teenagers retouched it.”

The retouched peacock at Moonbeam. Picture sourced by the correspondent

Moumita Saha, who has completed a six-year art course from Rekhachitram in Salt Lake, had drawn two huge peacocks on the road with a traditional circular motif in between. “I had painted it in acrylic paint over five days with the help of my brother Bhuban. It was a great experience. This year, we were not at Moonbeam during Puja.”

If the pandemic situation improves next year, she plans to draw a fresh set of motifs.