If you had been planning to visit Delhi's famous Akshardham temple but couldn't quite make the trip, here's your chance to know how the magnificent structure looks like. Well, almost.
RD Bhatta and CA Puja Committee in Bistupur, which will boast the tallest Durga idol this year, has created a replica of Akshardham, which is set to be Puja talk of the town.
A 25-member team from Bengal's Contai is working overtime to give finishing touches to the 60-feet tall pandal made of thermocol and plywood at Manimela grounds. At the moment, workers are applying the last coat of paint.
"The pandal will be ready tonight. It took us a over a month to come up with this model. It was a very tiresome job, but we will get our due rewards when people will marvel at its sight. I am sure they will like it," said chief artisan Bapi Jana.
Over 2,000 pieces of thermocol, measuring 1.5ftX3ft and having a thickness of 40mm and 20mm, have gone into making the mammoth structure.
"We have also used over 600kg of plywood of different sizes with thickness of 4mm and 6mm. We are not using ordinary paint. Gold dust, procured from Calcutta, has been mixed with water and adhesive to give that extra gloss to the structure," Jana said.
According to him, special sharp and thin knives have been used to make designs on thermocol.
"These knives are not usually found and have been specially made. A group of my men has been assigned the task of giving shape to the figures and motifs on thermocol. Painting is being taken care of by another section. Sharp nails of different sizes have been used for fixing models on the ply," Jana explained, adding his team was also behind the Durga pandal at Evening Club in Tinplate.
The team is devoting 16 hours daily to the pandal, which also houses the city's tallest pratima this year.
Built by a 25-member team from Bengal's Kumartuli, the 22-feet idol of Durga is complete. "We are celebrating our golden jubilee this year and hence, thought of putting up a grand show. Jamshedpur has never seen a replica of Akshardham temple before. The pandal will be inaugurated tomorrow evening," said RD Bhatta and CA Puja Committee's executive in-charge B. Prakash Rao.
A sum of Rs 14 lakh has been spent on the pandal.
"We have earmarked a Rs 25-lakh budget for the celebrations. The idol cost us Rs 2.5 lakh," Rao said, adding that cultural programmes would be the other draw.
