In Durga Puja run-up, artisans from Kolkata add sheen to city festivities

SECUNDERABAD: Inside a dimly-lit makeshift tent in Secunderabad’s Lal Bazar, Devdas Pal is giving final touches to idols of goddess Durga. With a few days left for the five-day Durga Puja celebrations, Devdas, along with his eight-member, is neck deep in work to complete the idols.
He is confident of meeting the deadline. For the 38-yearold artisan from Kolkata’s Katwa village, it’s an annual act.Every year, Devdas along with a few other men from his village travels to Hyderabad to give shape to devotion. They bring many items, especially clay from Kolkata. “We use clay from Kolkata to give finishing touch. It is smooth unlike the clay here which has small pebbles,” says Devdas who has been making idols for more than 13 years.
The idol-makers of Kolkata camp in Hyderabad for close to seven months. “We go back only after Dussehra,” says Joydeep Pal who has been camping with Devdas and others for the last six months.
Like Devdas and Joydeep, many artisans from Kolkata have made the city their home since April. Jagobandhu Pal, head of Mrith Shilpi, says “I have been pitching my workshop for idol making for almost four decades. Ab humko idhar hi jamm gaya hai.”
A walk into Jagobandhu’s makeshift workshop at Kanajiguda on Military Farm Road in Secunderabad shows several painted and decorated Durga idols in different sizes. One of the oldest in the profession, Jagobandhu gets over 30 artisans and three make-shift workshops to create over 200 idols in six months.
He, however, says life has not been easy here. “We are away from family. We have many challenges, have to work in unpredictable weather,” says Jagobandhu.
What draws them here? “We come for money. There are many artisans in Kolkata and the competition back home is intense,” says Devdas.
These artisans work day and night, giving magical touch and recreating charisma of the goddess for the most anticipated festival of large Bengali populace in the city.