Many Durga Puja committees have chosen the theme of the difficulties of migrants.
Calcutta:
Many Durga Puja committees in West Bengal have chosen the theme of the difficulties migrant workers face returning home during lockdown to the COVID-19 pandemic problem for the five-day festival that starts on October 22.
While the migrants’ journey and their plight in the first months of confinement struck a chord with many organizers, others have paid tribute to the COVID-19 warriors or have shown the coronavirus as the demon Mahisasura to be destroyed by the Goddess .
The festival is relatively low-key this year due to the pandemic and economic recession triggered by the shutdown, but many Durga Puja organizers have still thrown themselves into thematic puja like in recent years on contemporary themes, designing decor, lighting, and panda interiors. , a prevalent trend for the last 20 years.
Addressing the issue of migrants, Barisha Club, on the southern outskirts of the city, has installed the idol of a woman who stops for a moment on the road with a baby on her lap and two children.
“She is our Durga. Eight other hands are seen in the background. She personifies the pain, crying, suffering and resistance of migrant workers when business activities stalled and road communication stopped. But still, migrant workers were not left behind. They got into the vehicles on their own, walked thousands of miles, collapsed but again stood up. This is our tribute to migrants, “said a spokesman for the bidding committee.
In Naktala Udayan Sangha, a truck has been placed near the marquee with models of migrant workers, struggling to get into the vehicle.
“Our pandal is called waves. It reflects the waves of migrants returning from different corners. We have employed migrant workers from different districts to portray the issue,” said bidding committee official Anjan Das.
The return of migrant workers in various modes of transportation – by bike, truck – or by walking miles, has been depicted through wall works and models in the Kestopur Prafullakanon Paschim Adhibasibrindo pandal, Secretary Ranjit Chakraborty said.
“Our pandal will be inaugurated by the migrants who worked twenty-four hours a day for a month and during the inauguration the entire town will plunge into darkness for a time to show respect to the migrants who died during the return,” said Chakraborty.
The battle of the covid warriors against the pathogen also appears in the pandals.
In Salt Lake’s AK block, models of vendors, phuchka vendors, vegetable vendors are placed on the two sides of the pandal.
“Our pandal is themed about the difficulties faced by these people, who work in the big cities to earn a living from their distant homes in the villages. This is our way of remembering their difficulties during the closure,” said a spokesman for the committee of Raja Banik puja. He said.
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