A puja in Baguiati is paying tribute to an unusual person — their idol-maker who died in July 2020, a day before the contract for the year’s idol for Ashwininagar Bandhumahal Club was to be finalised.
“Arun Kumar Pal was one of the best idol-makers of this generation who made idols of well-known pujas like Shib Mandir, Ballygunge Cultural Association and Badamtala Ashar Sangha. But he did not get the recognition he deserved. We might not have worked with him for long but we want him to be remembered,” said Swarup Nag, the club treasurer. “He had suffered a heart attack. He was barely in his 50s.”
Samrat Bhattacharya, who has been entrusted with the puja this year, had himself lost his father when he was in art college. “Arunda looked somewhat like my father. I had wanted to work with him last year but that was not to be,” the 29-year-old said.
He is sculpting a figure of Pal painting the eyes of the goddess, the most significant moment in idol-making. “It will be a part of his studio that is coming up inside a hall,” said Samrat.
In the middle, an idol has been immersed in a pool created with a coat of transparent resin, illuminated to look like water. In the Devi’s hand, is a picture of Pal.
“It is as if the Mother has taken Arunda with her,” said Samrat.
But there is hope in the form of a new-born placed in a cot. “We want an artist like Arunda to come back to this world,” said Samrat.
Outside, a video clip will run on a screen with 12 puja personalities, like Bhabatosh Sutar, Sushanta Pal, Rano Banerjee and Naba Pal, reminiscing about Arun Pal.
The puja is also raising awareness on masks.
Outside the pandal, an incomplete idol, with hair yet to be pasted, will wear a gold mask and a matching gold sari, so that visitors remember to keep the mask on.
“I am leaving some of the idols with a slightly incomplete look. Arunda’s life, too, was not allowed to be completed,” said Samrat.
The theme of the puja is “Arun”, standing both for the deceased idol-maker from Kalighat and the sun, symbolising a new dawn in a post-Covid world.
The club has invited Arun Pal’s wife Piu, who has herself now got into idol-making, to the puja opening. “We have also requested her to share some of his personal belongings to keep in the studio we are replicating,” said Nag.