Kumartuli artisans and Durga Puja

Suchetana Ray / CNN-IBN

Kolkata: Bengal's biggest festive carnival is here. The people behind the spirit of Bengali festivity are busy in the dingy lanes of Kumartuli, a potter's hub in Kolkata

This place has been in existence for over a century. Behind the faces of these goddesses are the hands of the artisans of Kumartuli. One such artisan, Biplab Pal, a fourth generation has been giving shape to the clay idol of goddess Durga, what his ancestors have been doing for the past 75 years.

They also make the towering idols of the Goddess which is a no mean task. Pal says, “Its difficult for others to do this. I can do it as it runs in my blood.” In 2005 the Pals launched a website to book idols online, so as an overseas puja organizer you just have log on to Kumartuli.com, click on 'photo gallery' and you will be spoilt for choice.

All you need to do now is book the idol you like. Though local organizers are yet to wake up to the idea of purchasing Durga idols online, the overseas response has been overwhelming with online purchases being made from as far New Zealand.

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Idol demand grows abroad Durga Puja

2 Oct 2008, 0359 hrs IST,TNN

KOLKATA: The clay and the coats of paints are dry and most puja organizers are busy taking Durga and her entourage from to the pandals. But one batch
of idols made a really long journey from workshop to pandal weeks back. These are the idols that were sent abroad.

These were shipped to the US, Sweden, Austria and other places. Artisans Amar Nath Ghosh and his son Kaushik, who only accept overseas orders, sent 17 idols abroad this year. “We made 17 idols. Among them, five have been sent to the US, two each to Australia, England, Italy and Germany and one each to Vienna in Austria, Singapore, Canada and Sweden,” said Kaushik Ghosh.

“We create two kinds of idols. One is prepared from fiberglass and the other from pith (shola). While the fiberglass ones can cost around Rs 110,000-120,000, those prepared from paper or shola cost Rs 90,000 only,” he added.

The height of the idols can vary from four to nine feet. Most community puja organizers abroad prefer idols shipped to them. “It is a year-long process. We try to send idols by July on ships. Idols sent after July are sent on flights,” explains Ghosh.

It is, however, not every year that idols are immersed. The idols prepared from paper or shola can be preserved for about 10 years. “The bigger community puja organisers in the US often sell off the idols to smaller puja organisers. It helps reduce the cost involved in transporting idols from India,” Ghosh adds. It is only in Singapore that the idols are allowed to be immersed.

Kaushik is now busy gathering clients in New York, Seattle, Memphis, Vancouver, Toronto, Tokyo, Wellington, Kuala Lampur, Perth, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Milan, Florence, Venice and Manchester for next year’s puja. Ghosh’s clients are overseas Bengalis celebrating Durga Puja and the e-mail is his most-favoured medium for staying in touch with them.

“Because of the demand and huge distance involved, work has to start early. After September, its nearly impossible to take further orders,” Kaushik said. The community puja organisers flock to their website (www.amarnathghoshandsonsdurgapratima.com) from January every year.source: times of india

Durga Puja Abroad

According to wikipedia, Durga Puja, also referred as Durgotsab is an annual Bengali festival that celebrates worship of Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi , Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Nabami and Bijoya Dashami. The dates of Durga Puja celebrations are set according to traditional Bengali Calendar and the fortnight corresponding the festival is called Debi Pokkho. Debi Pokkho is preceded by Mahalaya ,the last day of the previous fortnight Pitri Pokkho, and is ended on Kojagori Lokkhi Puja, ‘Worship of Goddess Lakshmi on Kojagori Full Moon Night’)

Durga Puja is widely celebrated in West Bengal and Tripura where it is a five-day annual holiday. Not only it is the biggest Hindu festival celebrated throughout the State, but also the most significant socio-cultural event in Bengali society. Apart from West Bengal, Durga Puja is also celebrated in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and in some parts of India including Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Kashmir, Karnataka and Kerala. Durga Puja is also celebrated as a major festival in Nepal and Bangladesh. Nowadays, many non-residential Bengali cultural organizations arrange for Durgotsab in the countries like United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Kuwait etc also. In 2006, a grand Durga Puja ceremony was held in the Great Court of the British Museum. [1]

The prominence of Durga Puja increased gradually during the British Raj in Bengal. After the Hindu reformists resemble Durga with India, she had become an icon for the Indian independence movement. On the first quarter of 20th Century, the tradition of Baroyari or Community Puja was popularised due to this. After independence, Durga Puja became one of the largest celebrated festivals in the whole world.

Durga Puja includes the worships of Shiva, Lakshmi, Ganesha, Saraswati, Kartikeya and Mahishasura also. Modern tradition have come to include the display of decorated pandals and artistically depicted idols of Durga, exchange of Bijoya Greetings and publication of Puja Annuals.

Asia

Asia
Japan Bengali Association of Tokyo batjapan@gmail.com	Hong Kong Hong Kong Bengali Association (HKBA) mailhkba@gmail.com
Singapore Bengali Association	Malaysian Malaysian Bengalee Association webmaster@mba.org.my
Australia & New Zealand
Australia Bengali Association of Western Australia (BAWA)	Sydney Bengali Association, Sydney GPO Box 4928 Sydney 2001 pujacomm@bansw.org.au
Victoria Bengali Association of Victoria (BAV) bav@bavwebsite.org	New Zealand Probasee Bangalee New Zealand P.O. Box 27388 Mt. Roskill Auckland New Zealand webmaster@probasee.co.nz
Palmerston North , New Zealand PRANTIK DURGOTSAB COMMITEE 153 Heretaunga St. Palmerston North New Zealand. mukherjees@xtra.co.nz
Canada Canada
Edmonton Edmonton Bengali Association infoeba@shaw.ca	Ottawa Deshantari webmaster@deshantari.com
Montreal Bengali Community
Europe
London,UK. Bengali Cultural Association, London, UK.	Wales, UK Puja in Wales skraha@doctors.org.uk
London,UK. Sanaton Association AVFW, Vetrans Hall, Osidge Lane, Southgate, N14 5DU London.durgapuja@hotmail.co.uk	Germany Stuttgart Mr. Tushar Kanti Ganguly, Tel/Fax: (0711) 825890, Stuttgart, Germ durgapuja@ganguly.de
Germany Puja in Cologne Germaniastra. 10 51103 Köln Tel: 0221-871559 Fax: 0221-87680 mail@tb-trade.com	Switzerland Sarbajanin Durgapuja 2006,Switzerland Swisspuja, 5400 Baden mail@swisspuja.com
Finland Helsinki Durga Puja	London South London Puja
U.K. Leicester Ankur webmaster@ankurclub.org	U.K. Milton Keynes M K Ananda Club
UK & Europe Prabashi webadmin@prabasi.co.uk	London Global London tellus@global-london.com
London South London Puja

United States of America

United States of America
Arizona Bengali Association of Arizona culturalSec@azbengal.org	California, Los Angeles Bengali Association of Southern California (BASC)
California, San Diego Saikat	California, San Francisco Bay Area Prabasi
California, Los Angeles and suburb Dakshini Bengali Association of California dakshinila@yahoo.com	California, San Francisco Pashchimi P.O. Box - 61032 Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1032. info@pashchimi.org
Colorado, Denver Milonee,The Bengali Cultural Association of Colorado milonee@milonee.net	Georgia, Atlanta Bengali Association of Greater Atlanta(BAGA) baga_org@hotmail.com
Illinois, Chicago Bengali Association of Greater Chicago members@bagc.net	Florida. Tampa Soikot Bengali Association of Greater Tampa Bay Rabi Ghosh Dastidar 16206 Ashley Park Place Tampa Florida - 33647 soikot_florida@yahoo.com
Georgia. Atlanta Pujari pujariinc@yahoo.com	Kansas City Sangam queries@sangam-midwest.org
Maryland, Baltimore Prantik,Bengali Association of Greater Baltimore Area partha6@verizon.net	Minnesota Bengali Association of Rochester Kanai Roy kanairoy@hotmail.com
New Jersey Kallol 41 Flemming Drive, Hillsborough, NJ 08844 Tel 908.431.0557 :: Fax 908.431.0995	New Jersey City Garden State Puja Committe info@gardenstaetepuja.org
New Jersey. Plainfield Garden State Cultural Association P.O. Box: 308, Scotch Plains, NJ 07076	New York East coast Durga Puja Association (Ecdpa) 28 Rifton Street, Elmont, NY-11003-4928 Phone: 516.825.0549 chandansinharoy@ecdpa.org
New York Ramakrishna Vivekananda Center 17 East 94th Street New York, NY 10128 rvcnewyork@worldnet.att.net	New York A Bengali Cultural Association of Greater Buffalo 68 Woodstream Drive Grand Island NY 14072 webmaster@buffalosanskriti.org
New York. Albany Bengali Cultural Association Mr. Prabal Dhar BCA President Ph: (518) 783-5755 bca_albany@yahoo.com	North Carolina. Charlotte Probasi of Charlotte PO Box 77946, Charlotte, NC 28271-7022
Pennsylvania,Philadelphia Pragati	Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh Bengali Association of Pittsburgh pksaha@verizon.net
Texas, Dallas Bengali Association of Dallas Forth Warth 1901 N. Central, Expressway#230 Richardson, Texas 75080 USA info@badfw.org	Texas, Dallas ANTORIK info@antorik.com
Texas, Houston Houston Durga Bari Society akniyogi@durgabari.org	Washington, Seattle Uttoran P.O. Box 3691 Bellevue, WA 98009-3691 uttoronseattle@yahoo.com
Washington DC Sanskriti 11606 Settlers Circle Germantown, MD 20876 301-916-8640 Info@sanskriti-dc.org	Wisconsin. Milwaukee Bengali Cultural Society P.O. Box 292, Pewaukee, WI 53072-0292 sujayd5247@yahoo.com
Bengali Association of Nebraska, US (BANE) Omaha Hindu Temple, Nebraska Alok Dhar Chair-Fund Raising Executive Committee E-mail: alokdhar2003@yahoo.com Ph: 402-399-5238

Delhi

Delhi
Munirka Sarbojanin Puja Samity Bengali community of Munirka, South Delhi	Vasundhara Enclave Vasundhara Enclave Durga Puja Samiti Community Ground Vasundhara Enclave New Delhi 110096
Mahilalpur AAI(IAD) Residential Complex Contact: Himanshu Dhar himanshudhar@yahoo.com Quarter no C-1/10/AAI Colony Mahilalpur, New Delhi - 110037	Mayur Vihar Purvasha Durga Puja Samity B-308 Anandlok Housing Society Mayur Vihar Phase - I Delhi 110091, Tel: +91-11-2254705
Ashok Vihar Durga Bari, Ashok Vihar Plot No: C-1, Pocket A Phase II, Ashok Vihar Delhi 110052 Tel: +91-11-7465349	Chittaranjan Park C.R. Park Durga Puja Samity "B-Block" B-379 Chittaranjan Park New Delhi 110019
Hauz Khas & Adjoining Areas Sarbojanin Durga Puja Committee H-1 Hauz Khas, New Delhi - 110016 Tel: +91-11-6863289, 664142	Chittaranjan Park C.R. Park Durga Puja Samity "Co-operative Ground" K-2033 C.R. Park, New Delhi 110019 Tel: +91-11-6413985, 6287480
Chittaranjan Park Chittaranjan Park Kali Mandir Society New Delhi - 110019 Tel: +91-11-6416924	Chittaranjan Park Mela Ground Durga Puja Samiti D-687 Chittaranjan Park New Delhi 110019 Tel: +91-11-6462671
New Delhi Sabuj Sangha 479 Sector - IV, New Delhi - 110022 Tel: +91-11-6178249, 6185285	New Delhi Saptarshi D-712 C.R. Park, New Delhi - 110019 Tel: +91-11-6471753, 6427434
MUMBAI
Thakur complex Kandivali East Bengali Association BMC ground beside St.lawrence school, Thakur complex Kandivali (East), Mumbai.

source: http://www.calcuttahorizon.com/durgapuja_abroad.htm
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