🇬🇧 First look at the Pandals

View of a Pandal under construction from across a lake

Walking around the city, one can already see the preparations for the puja. Bamboo structures line the streets like picture frames, and the skeletons of pandals have already begun to be fleshed out with fabric and plywood.

I have so far been introduced to the designers of two pandals: one in north Calcutta, named: Shovabajar Battala Sarbojanin Durgapuja’s pandal (which we will be referring to as the «north pandal» for simplicity’s sake) and one in Hindustan Park, very close to where I used to live!

Both these Pandal’s have entirely different themes, budgets and methods of decorating, but interestingly, both will be using Van Gogh’s Starry Night in their designs. This was actually unplanned, but fortunate for me as it will allow me to compare and contrast the different representations and interpretations of the painting.

I will be having a more hands on approach to the North Pandal, actually working on it with the designer. For the Hindustan park one, my role will be more observational and I’ll be dropping in about once a week for an update on how everything has progressed.

Hindustan Park Pandal

I have fond memories of the Hindustan Park Pandal, as it was a large one in walking distance from where we lived, I went every year from the ages of 7 to 11, and remember it as one of my favourites. I particularly remember one year, when it seemed to be made almost entirely of old fashioned toys.

This year, since unesco has granted the festival status of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the Durga Puja receives global recognition unlike any it has received before. For this reason, many pandal artists are referencing internationally renowned artworks. The Hindustan Park pandal will be taking it a step further, merging Van Gogh‘s Starry Night, probably the most internationally recognisable painting, with something as traditional and everyday as clothes markets.

The choice of this theme was inspired by Gariahat market, a bustling market a short walk away from the pandal.

The artist intends to recreate a market scene outside the pandal, complete with straw shop mannequins and rails of clothing, as well as giant clothes hangers hanging from the ceiling. On the inside of this monument to traditional tailors, the walls and ceilings are decorated with pieces of clothing and recycled cloth. The sides are lined with panels covered in pieces of old sarees, and in the ceiling, circular light fixtures are framed by rolled up jeans.

Photo of the ceiling. The bamboo structure will be removed once the decoration is complete.

The Starry Night at the back of the pandal is also made from fabric: scraps have been arranged on the wall and then painted to recreate the famous piece. The goddess Durga stands in front of it (in this pandal, she is made from plaster and not the traditional clay and straw, so she is already in position, though waiting to be painted).

The goddess’s form is stylised, if we compare her to the sculptures in Kumartuli, her clothes and hair are part of the sculpture, the demon’s presence is represented by the buffalo’s head, and her children are small, arranged around her pedestal.

Although I will not be having a hands on approach to the construction of this pandal, I look forward to dropping by and document the changes and progress I observe.

a North Calcutta Pandal

This Pandal, though far smaller than the first one, is also being built on the road, and thus the space used is long and narrow, resembling a corridor at the end of which is placed the scene of the goddess.

The selected theme for this one is the loneliness brought on by our addiction to social media, and Debabrata Singha, the artist working on this pandal, will be referencing Van Gogh’s paintings in the decor; creating props like chairs and table which will be built into the walls of the pandal, and which play around with perspective to create a surreal effect.

I have added photograph of one such element. Again, the photo quality isn’t great so I outlined the photograph digitally in yellow and orange so that you may better make out what is represented. The pandal is scattered with these little scenes throughout: this table and chair, a bed (clearly the same bed as in Van Gogh‘s Bedroom in Arles) as well as a doorway in the corner.

The materials used for this pandal remain quite traditional; the furniture is mostly made from plywood and cardboard and paper mâché for details and accessories. The decoration actually shows the artists’ ingenuity and how they can make something really quite extraordinary with the basic materials that they have.

Detail of a wall. Corrugated cardboard has been used to give the wall texture.

Below is a photo over which I have attempted to explain what could be expected from the finished product of the pandal. On the ceiling is an open door (calling to mind Salvador Dali and Disney’s 1951 Alice in Wonderland) from which will be hanging old mobile phones.

We also see the references to Bedroom in Arles mentioned ealier. At the very back of the Pandal is an asymmetrical window frame behind which will be painted a rendition of Van Gogh‘s Starry Night. In front of this window will be positioned the goddess. Though I don’t know for sure, I imagine the walls, floors and ceiling of the pandals will be painted in an impressionist style to mimic Van Gogh’s work.

Van Gogh’s “Bedroom in Arles“

Like in Hindustan Park, Durga will not be made to look traditional, but instead she and her children will be arranged to resemble a family dinner, in which her four children will be facing away, all looking at their separate phones. As for the demon, if I understood correctly, he will be represented as a sleeping dog at Durga‘s feet.

This unusual portrayal of the gods is part of the reason I love Calcutta and the Durga Puja. Where in other parts of India, people may take offence in seeing their gods portrayed in such a flawed or human way, in Calcutta, it is entirely up to the artist’s sensibilities.

When I asked him why he had chosen the theme of the solitude of technology, the artist explained to me the Durga Puja was the surest way of getting a message across to a large audience. Though books, articles, paintings or exhibitions may raise a certain amount of awareness for a certain audience, nothing is surer to be seen by thousands of diverse people as a pandal during the Durga Puja.

And this is by no means a rare phenomenon; I remember going to a Pandal at the age of 11 or 12 on the theme of terrorism, as well as plenty on women’s rights, and though I didn’t have the opportunity of seeing them, scores of last year’s pandals were about the covid pandemic.

I look forward to being part of this pandal and documenting its transformation into a real work of art.