Not many takers for pandal jobs

Bimal Kumar (36),an artist and a resident of Behala district of Kolkata,has been coming to Delhi every year for the past 10 years at the time the puja. He says as a child he was fascinated with the massive,colourful and shiny idols,and had then decided to become an artist.

“I was five years old and I used to go to puja pandals with my mother. I would look at the decorations,the big idols,the intricate work done by artists. But,my father never encouraged me to learn this work,I ran away from home to learn it,” he says.

He has now been in the profession for more than 20 years and has set pandals for numerous pujas. He says there is a transition in the way puja is conceptualised.

“Earlier,no one used to set up such huge pandals… people would dance with joy even if the pandal was small with small idols. The focus used to be on the puja,and not the decorations,” he says.

Traditional artist Govind (32),whose family has been in the profession for many generations,agrees with Kumar. He says preparing the pandals is a dying art and artists have started drifting to other professions.

“I have seen my grandfather and my father carving idols for the puja. They did this work to please the goddess and not money. Today,the pandals are more about perfection in terms of design,hence the pandals lack the soul of the artist,” says Govind.

He says he also works for pandals for Ganesh Puja,other pujas and even weddings. Something,he says,he father would not approve of. “My ancestors worked solely for the Durga Puja pandals. They put their heart and soul in the work. But now,it is no more an art,it is more of a business,” he says.