Calcutta, Oct. 17: A simple but elegant Durga Puja pandal, tucked away in the Hindustan Park locality here, has brought the flavour of Assam to the city this festive season.

While Puja organisers vie for attention with grandiose schemes and sterling splendour, the Hindustan Park Durgotsav Committee has decorated the Purbanchal Club, pandal artistically with the green gold of the Northeast, bamboo.

Says artist Dipankar Pal, who conceptualised the pandal and the idols, “I used bamboo from Assam because it looks wonderful. It is different from the bamboo available in Bengal. I have also used base colours and motifs to induce the ambience of rural Assam.”

Altogether 1,600 bamboo pieces have been used to decorate the pandal and the interiors at a cost of Rs 30,000, which is one-third the entire cost of the pandal. The bamboos were ordered last month and delivered within a week.

The idols cost another Rs 20,000.

“The budget was very low, but I took it up as a challenge,” says Pal.

But what made Pal think of Assam? The concept is, in a way, Pal’s tribute to his guru, Munindra Rajbongshi, an artist from Assam.

The concept has been given shape by Pal’s students, most of whom are doing their graduation. They have decorated the pandal and one of them, Ajit Bhowmick, has also sculpted the idols.

In this confluence of Assam and Bengal, Pal’s “sonar pratima” (golden coloured idol) has the appearance which reminds one of Assam.

“The Puja is simple, but impressive. The concept of decorating the pandal with bamboo is very different. It effectively combines the essence of rural Bengal and Assam,” said Kakoli Sengupta, a pandal-hopper.