First stop: Durga Puja

The once ironic nickname ‘the city of joy‘ proves itself to be completely appropriate when one is confronted with the abundance of noise, colour, lights and general gusto with which the goddess Durga is welcomed to Calcutta.

The Durga Puja is a yearly Hindu festival which falls in the early autumn and celebrates the goddess Durga’s victory over the demon Mahishasura.

(For those interested in a more in depth explanation, click here for the Britannica entry on it)

It is unlike anything else I have ever seen. The streets are illuminated by panels or even whole arches of multicoloured lights that move like water and depict anything from birds fluttering around flowers to a Mr Bean to a personified Covid virus.

A traditional depiction of the scene

Huge constructions are built all over the city; in parks, on streets, there used to be one every year on the road just outside our flat back when I lived in Calcutta, all of them made for the most part from bamboo, fabric and paper. These constructions, known as Pandals, house clay idols of the goddess riding her lion and spearing the demon, and surrounded by her four children.

Aside from the presence of these deities, the design and content of the pandal is entirely up to the designers, leading to the most fantastically imaginative creations. I vividly remember, for instance, one with life sized white pearly elephants, which made from bamboo and fabric and decorated in glittery paper. Other than the traditional materials, pandals can be made from anything at all; everyday household items like umbrellas (pictured below), recycled rubbish, even the goddess‘s form can change; she can be a fisherwoman, an angelic fairy, or made to look like a traditional «pattachitra » painting .

The final, and to me most incredible part of this festival, is that everything, from the clay goddess to the pandals, everything, is totally ephemeral. Months and months of planning and designing and labour are put into something that only lasts a few days. The idols are put into the river - where the clay they are made from came from in the first place - and the pandals are deconstructed, recycled or simply thrown away.

The exterior of a pandal made to look like a city scape of Calcutta.

This week, I will be meeting with a designer and working with her on the decoration of her pandal, documenting it all here, so please do stay tuned for that!

All these pictures were taken by Laura Amalir, between 2015 - 2016