Kolkata artisans push pedal as shipment of Durga idol starts

KOLKATA: Though three months are still left for Bengal's biggest carnival, Durga Puja, the buzz in Kumartuli — the porters' enclave in North Kolkata — is palpable with the idol makers gearing up for the last-minute touches before they ship the idols across shores.

The idol makers call it a "sweet relief" from the pain caused due to the pandemic.

The sculptors of Kumartuli have been working round-the-clock to finish orders from international Puja organisers.

Last year, at this time, there was hardly any demand from Puja organisers outside India as social gatherings remained banned in most places due to Covid restrictions.

However, this year the artisans are looking forward to having at least 50-70 big-budget orders from abroad. According to one of the artisans, most demands for idols come from countries like South Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, France and Paris, among other places where the Bengalis reside. Amongst all, the majority of orders come from the UK and the US.

The artisans will be able to estimate the total number of orders this year by Rath Yatra, which is on July 1. But they unanimously believe that this time the market looks like opening a little better with big-ticket orders coming through this early.

Different kinds of materials are used to make an idol and each year the artisans witness a trend in the preferences of buyers. For the past few years, they have been seeing a higher demand for fibre idols when it comes to orders from abroad.

"It is more expensive than the mud ones. But these are light in weight and become easier to ship out," Biplab Paul of Gora Chand Paul and Sons said. They have sent a fibreglass idol to New Jersey in the United States. Paul added that talks are on for other orders. They have also started receiving orders from district Puja organisers too.

Another Kumartuli artisan Santana Paul is going to send the idol to Belgium for a budget of Rs 3 lakh. This is his first foreign order this year.

Apart from the general hustle to finish Durga idol orders, the artisans of Kumartuli have started making Kali and Lakshmi idols considering they will hardly get any time to finish them later.