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Reviving Tradition for Contemporary Puja Pandals

Kolkata, decked out for the grand festive season has been gleaming since a fortnight now. Cast your glance anywhere and you will see light works streaming down window panes, show windows at the shops, hedges that fill up the dividers along the roads, boundary walls, grills that rail the balconies, cornices that line the buildings – every nook and cranny is flooded with the tiny glowing dots. Yes, it’s time for the pujas, and hence the public places are flooded with people. An incessant spill over of people might just get you unnerved at the shopping malls, foot paths, across the streets, coffee pubs and elsewhere. Even the hermit is out at this time of the year and not to mention the crowd. The newspapers keep tab on thee pandal hoppers. I quote one here:  Ahiritolla, an area in the north of the city records 7000 spectators at a major pandal at 7:30 pm;  at 8:30 pm  the crowd reaches 9000 and before it is 10 o’clock, it exceeds 10, 000. Did the organizers cry “Ice, ice, baby!”?

If you are a Kolkatan, you must align with me that never ever did we have an inclination towards a ‘theme based’ puja so much as the last decade. Take a look some ten years back and you will find that although rivalry did prevail between each of the clubs in an area over a puja (because they are the organizers of the pujas in most of the cases, and are of prime importance, apart from the old traditional barir pujo, which is a domestic version and not a cooperative one, unlike the clubs) the concept of a theme did not. The pandals were subjects of the local decorators, who with the same hues of an insipid mauve, a tiresome lemon yellow and a horrific cerulean blue, which they have used over years, and with the same egg and dart pleats would show their low budget dexterity.

 It’s rivalry that has changed it all over the years. The organizers of the cooperative ‘puja committees’ (a name which they are quite proud of) called for the art colleges and it’s from this point that the story takes a major twist. Students and teachers (up coming artists, to be more specific) alike have become the integral part of the idol and pandal making. The more promising committees ensure a six month financial back up to an artist who has signed a contract and would go around the country for a thorough research of sites such as the caves at Ajanta, the forts at Mandu, or a remote village in central India, known for its treasure of folk art. Thus, pujas have become research oriented as well. The conservatives, I am sure would crinkle their noses, complaining about the old sentiments losing flavour, but I , like most of my chums, consider  such changes as very positive ones.

The folk art series group of artists have revived the nearly dead folk art – Worli and Santhal wall paintings, the dhokra and terracotta dolls, the kanthas and scroll paintings and countless others come to life with the advent of the theme orientation. Saikat, my friend is an upcoming artist who was busy doing a pandal at Bakulbagan, in South Kolkata, and decided to put together all the major  folk art trends in Bengal, including motifs used in numerous rituals in Bengal, the kantha (old rag tag pieces of cloth on which  the village women sew motifs of the local flora and fauna and  incidents from the everyday life) several saras  (clay saucers, painted on the convex side ), ghats (clay pitchers with images of local goddesses painted on them). For assistance he had at his disposal several of my students at the art academy. "You cannot leave such a project to any Tom, Dick Harry"(and hence the art college pass outs) says one of the members of the puja committee. Elsewhere, there was the entire Hogwarts School (Harry Potter fame) replicated as a pandal, or a Budhhist pagoda or a porcelain Durga were among the highly rated works.
           
Saikat who is a friend of mine was busy doing a pandal at Bakulbagan, in South Kolkata, and had  decided to put together all the major  folk art trends in Bengal, including motifs used in numerous rituals in Bengal, the kantha (old rag tag pieces of cloth on which  the village women sew motifs of the local flora and fauna and  incidents from the everyday life) several saras  (clay saucers, painted on the convex side), ghats (clay pitchers with images of local goddesses painted on them). For assistance he had at his disposal several of my students at the art academy. "You cannot leave such a project to any Tom, Dick Harry"(and hence the inclination on the art college pass outs) says one of the members of the puja committee. Elsewhere, there was the entire Hogwarts School replicated as a pandal, or a Buddhist pagoda or porcelain Durga were among the highly rated works.

Needless to say you need a budget for which the sky is the limit. Just raising funds would not suffice if one is to invest on the incredibly expensive kanthas and such other folk art form. Hence the shift to sponsors such as the FM radio and private television channels, cement companies and newspaper agencies, which not only bring financial supports with them, but promise an extra dosage of awards in the form of handsome trophies and cheques, and not to mention the glares of the ark light.

And what about the left over from such pandals once the pujas are over? Well, the artifacts such as the wooden horse and elephant from Shantipur would be sold to a city based art collector, 'who can really appreciate it'. How much does one have to pay for it? "Rupees 500 per piece " one of the club members charged me very confidently. That's a dear price I have to pay for being a city dweller, whereas the carver himself would have been able to sell it barely for 25/- per piece. However, I still maintain, theme pujas have really revived the decadent genre of folk art.

The city will be featuring a number of significant shows in the next 30 days. The Alternative Art Group will be showcasing 'Exhibition cum Sale: A skin tight dress collection" an exhibition with performance at the Gallery with Difference (152, S.P. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata 26) between 27th and 28th October. Mon Art Gallery (6, Hungerford Street, Kolkata- 17) has been featuring "Three Amigos", a show of paintings by Deviprasad C Rao, Suhas Shilkar and Swati Nair. A group show of young artists titled "Three Wheel Drive" is on at the gallery called Artists' Circle at 46 Circus Avenue, till 30th October. The G.C. Laha Centenary Art Gallery has been showcasing the paintings of the author Premendra Mitra, which definitely is an unknown facet of the author. Gallery Aakar Prakar presents "No. # 8 Shorts Bazaar or Short Street? The Nuptial Chamber" an exhibition by Paula Sengupta from 1st to 10th November. Make sure that you are there.