Theme bound Durga Pujas

Gradually, with an increase in the numbers of public celebrations and the urge to attract eyeballs, there came a time when pandals went in for mesmerising the crowds. The display of lights, which creates wonders, are a delight to viewers' eyes..

WHEN I was a school kid, the numbers of famous Durga pujas in Kolkata proper were few like the ones at the Central Fire Brigade or at the Beadon Street or Baghbazar. The reason why each stood out on its own was the theme it covered. The idols of the Fire brigade were always unique – one year, the demon King Asura was shown kneeling in front of Goddess Durga praying for deliverance with folded arms. The Goddess, on her part, held up a hand in a gesture of blessing. The idols of Beadon Street invariably followed the murals of the Ajanta-Ellora types; the colours were brownish, like that of dried clay. The idols of Baghbazar were conventional, but this Puja was famous for the fairs that were held on the occasion.

There would be huge crowds in each of these pandals and the crowd control was an experience by itself – separate queues for gents and ladies. No chance of getting lost because the volunteers were at hand to help locate missing persons. The microphone would keep posting messages – ‘this is for so-and-so who has arrived from Barasat – your wife is searching for you, she is right now in the information office. Please come fast.’

Gradually, with an increase in the numbers of public celebrations and the urge to attract eyeballs, there came a time when pandals went in for mesmerising the crowds by the display of lights. This is something that has been mastered by the persons of a place named Chandernagore.

They can create wonders with the sequencing of the lighting of colored bulbs – they have the ingenuity to show the final winning shot in the World Cup football or the enormous sixers hammered by players of the T-20 World Cup or Mamata Banerjee waving to her followers or even the spacecraft with Kalpana Chawala. Alongside, the craftsmen began to give newer shapes to the traditional pandals that housed the idols for the four days. Pandals made of the conventional bamboo and cloth made way for plywood, thermocol and a wide variety of alternate materials.

However, when lighting and pandal decoration became stale, the organisers conceived the idea of ‘theme pujas’. They defined a theme in advance and instructed everyone to work to make it a success – like a village of Bengal, complete mud thatched huts, tiny bodies of water, in which the ducks swam etcetera.

The result is that you came across a Rajasthani village in one part of the city while another beckoned you with the Mohenjodaro or the Space Research Centre at NASA. Imagination ran wild and when one of these managed to bag a prestigious award, it knew that it had made a sure killing for years to come.
source: http://www.merinews.com