Winning Streak

There is a reason why the friendly kaku in your para pandal insists on playing Rabindra Sangeet and recordings of Bhimsen Joshi concerts over the microphone on Shashti,Saptami and Ashtami,before letting you take over the console.

There is a reason why the friendly kaku in your para pandal insists on playing Rabindra Sangeet and recordings of Bhimsen Joshi concerts over the microphone on Shashti,Saptami and Ashtami,before letting you take over the console. Its very likely that the kaku nurses an ambition of seeing a Sharad Samman trophy on your para club mantelpiece.

Which is why on these designated days (when the juries of award committees make rounds of the city shortlisting finalists),the kaku,like hundreds of other kakus across the city,will run around the pandal in a sweat-drenched kurta. He will bark orders at cronies,concoct elaborate tales about the theme of the pandal (when durga killed the asura the first drop of blood fell on a neem tree,our pandal replicates that very neem tree) and ensure that everything is in accordance to the distinguished jurys tastewhich means,no Bollywood music,no para youths loitering about and a prominent display of fire-fighting equipment. Indeed,award frenzy makes people do strange things.

But such was not the case about twenty five years ago. Those were the innocent days of themeless pujas,when pandals were structures that simply housed the deity and not pretentious little structures stuffed with art works. Before the Asian Paints Sharad Samman was launched,pandal hopping meant something else. People never really took pandals seriously. They werent conscious about their artistic value. Which meant they would make structures out of lozenges and stuff and rely on gimmicks to draw crowds, says Kaushik Dutta,events manager of the Asian Paints Sharad Samman.

Story continues below this ad

Today,the problem seems that people are a bit too aware of the artistic value of puja pandals,claims Sambuddha Chadhuri. There are so many awards and the puja committees are falling over each other to bag them. All they seem to care about is the theme and not about the religious significance of the festival, says the resident of Naktala.

Reputed artist Wasim Kapoor,who has been a member of many such award juries,disagrees. If you ask me,these awards have brought people closer and are in keeping with the true spirit of the festival. When a baroari puja wins an award,its the recognition of a collaborative effort. Everyone from the para feels proud about the achievement, says Kapoor.

Jayanta Ghosh,supervisor of Asian Paints Sharad Samman,says that though people may raise a few questions about the credibility of the numerous puja awards around,they do have a deep impact on the way Bengalis perceive Durga Puja. A new award is instituted every year,and not all of them can be taken seriously. But its also true that today our pujas are more environmental friendly,safer and aesthetically appealing because of them. They have also commercialized pujas and made them money earners. And that is no mean achievement, says Ghosh. Dutta agrees. Today pandal hopping is more organized because of them. People chalk out their puja time table relying on these verdicts. If people find out that a certain award committee is not very fair with their judgment,they will stop taking them seriously. Its as simple as that, he sums up

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:
Kolkata
talk

Winning Streak

There is a reason why the friendly kaku in your para pandal insists on playing Rabindra Sangeet and recordings of Bhimsen Joshi concerts over the microphone on Shashti,Saptami and Ashtami,before letting you take over the console.

There is a reason why the friendly kaku in your para pandal insists on playing Rabindra Sangeet and recordings of Bhimsen Joshi concerts over the microphone on Shashti,Saptami and Ashtami,before letting you take over the console.