At Sanskrit College, a 40-Foot alpana becomes a living tribute to Bengal’s cultural icons

Sanskrit College and University is dressed, quite literally, in hand-drawn reverence this Saraswati Puja. In the days leading up to Basant Panchami, students have spent hours on their knees, coaxing a 40-foot alpana out of white rice paste across the old campus floors. What was once a familiar corridor has been transformed into a flowing river of memory , a centenary tribute to some of Bengal’s most influential cultural figures.The idea took shape in the mind of Namrata Roy, a postgraduate English student and theatre practitioner. “This year felt special,” she said, pointing out that 2026 marks 100 years of several icons her generation grew up reading, watching, and listening to ,playwright Badal Sarkar, composer Salil Chowdhury, actor Uttam Kumar, cartoonist Narayan Debnath, filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak, writer Saradindu Bandopadhyay, poet Sukanta Bhattacharya and actor Santosh Dutta. “We consume their work all our lives, but we rarely stop to thank them,” Roy added. “If Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge, then this felt like the right moment to acknowledge the human sources of that knowledge.” The alpana is not merely decorative. Each section carries a stylised portrait or caricature, drawing from Satyajit Ray’s graphic sensibility, and framed with traditional symbols - books, veenas, film reels and theatre masks. Instead of placing framed portraits around the mandap, students chose to suspend cut-outs and artworks above the floor design, creating an immersive space where visitors are encircled by their gurus, both divine and mortal. The labour behind the artwork has been intense. “We start around 10 in the morning and often work till late at night,” said Ankur Mondal, a student involved in the process. “There are long commutes home, semester deadlines, and exams running parallel to this.” Yet, he said, the exhaustion is part of the ritual. For many, Saraswati Puja remains the one festival that still belongs wholly to students. “It’s the only time a campus feels like a community of learners rather than just an examination centre,” said Sneha Pal, another student volunteer. Smudged with rice paste and colour, students return year after year to take part, despite the physical demands.