Durga Puja: Recreating Bengal's splendour in Delhi

A towering Buddha sculpture greets visitors to a Durga Puja pandal in central Delhi's Arambagh locality, which is celebrating its silver jubilee this year.
Created by Kolkata-based sculptor Guranga Kuila, the 16 feet tall and 12.5 feet wide sculpture has been fashioned out of brass replicas of items like leaves of the mango and bael leaves, diyas, brass water vessels - all traditional offerings to the Goddess Durga.
The idol of the goddess itself, a monumental 20 feet high and 26 feet wide has been transported to Delhi from Kolkata where it was handcrafted with seven types of clay by sculptor Pradeep Rudrapal, who has earned fame for his spectacular idols.

"It took four trucks and over 7 days to transport the idol from Kolkata. Over 45 labourers helped carry it to the stage where she will be worshipped during Durga Puja celebrations," says Shanker Chakravarthy, a member of the organising committee.
While with an estimated budget ranging between Rs 75 lakhs to Rs 1 crore, the Arambag committee wants to make this year's celebration special. Former President Abdul Kalam inaugurated the Buddha-themed pandal late last evening.
Other Durga Puja committees in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) area, which is estimated to number over 800, are also geared up with special themes and festivities. Most have roped in artists from Kolkata who park themselves in the city months ahead of the festival.

"There must be more than 1200 pandals in Delhi and NCR," says Chakravarthy.

For Vishvajit Pal, a sculptor from Krishnanagar in West Bengal, the days leading to the Durga Puja are quite busy.
Pal, who has been making idols for the past 30 years has been coming to Delhi since the past 9 years. At the Delhi Durga Puja Samiti, he is overseeing preparations for at least 10 idols that will be dispatched to various committees across the city.
"For the idol I mainly use a mix of two types of clay from the Yamuna and brought from Haryana. The sediments are big so the resulting mixture is not as smooth as the one we make in Bengal. For ornaments we use zari shells and paper," says Pal.

One of the idols is for the Kashmiri Gate Puja Samiti, which hosts the oldest Durga Puja celebration in the Delhi and NCR region.
"Our puja turns 104 years old this year. We maintain the old style followed by gererations and seldom deviate from tradition. The idols of the goddess and everything else is created in the traditional style," says Barun Mukherjee, President, Kashmiri Gate Puja Samiti.