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| The pandal of Railway Station Durga Puja in Ranchi. Picture by Hardeep Singh |
Ranchi, Sept. 23: Let the sky pour gallons of water, organisers of Ranchi Railway Station Durga Puja couldn’t care less. After all, their pandal is made of sponge.
“This year, Durga Puja is scheduled early. We were expecting a wet festival and wanted to ensure that our fun wasn’t spoilt by the rain god. We approached some artists of Bengal who gave us the idea of using synthetic sponge instead of traditional material such as cloth, straw, coconut shells and bamboo. The idea is innovative and practical,” said Munchun Rai, the secretary of Ranchi Railway Station Durga Puja Committee. “Even if it rains, our pandal will remain unaffected. Besides, a sponge pandal is a totally new concept,” Rai added.
The total budget of the Puja is Rs 6 lakh while expenses incurred in constructing the pandal have been pegged at Rs 4.5 lakh. The committee has spent Rs 70, 000 on the ekchala idol brought from Calcutta.
The pandal, standing tall at 65ft, is a temple made of 90 bundles of sponge. Around 25 artisans from Midnapore have been camping in the capital for a month to make it happen.
“We have replicated scenes from 13 festivals celebrated by the Hindus round the year inside the pandal. As many as 13 deities have been made of sponge. The main idol is made of clay,” Rai said.
Last year, the committee had come up with the theme of the famous Ajanta caves.
The Railway Station Puja was started way back in 1947 by employees, who used to make do with limited resources. But the budget shot up in the past three years.
“The competition factor was also on our mind. In the previous years, the footfall was quite less as very few people knew about our puja. But now, we are coming up with innovative themes to attract large crowds. We have also put up hoardings across the city,” Rai said.
“We are looking forward to visit the pandal. I am sure it will be one of most fascinating creations that we have ever seen,” said Ashish Kumar, a resident of Railway Colony.
