The glass goddess

Kokrajhar, Oct. 10: Goddess Durga will have a unique look once again in Basugaon town in Kokrajhar district this year. This “season's special”, courtesy local artisan Deepak Kar, is an idol made of glass and mirror.

Kar, who has been creating idols of the goddess using materials ranging from bamboo to seashells since 1986, is set to repeat his feat with coloured bangle shards and mirror chips this time. The exquisite image will grace the Town Committee Road Puja pandal.

Kar’s consuming passion for making singular images of Durga began in the early 1980s when he saw a glass image of the goddess at a mela here. “The idol was brought for display from Calcutta. Inspired by that beautiful sight, I, too, decided to make one of bamboo,” said Kar, who had till then been carving artefacts from bamboo. In 1986, Kar’s bamboo Devi Durga wowed the town’s pandal-hoppers and brought him instant fame throughout the district. Since then he has “given Durga a new image each year”. His repertoire includes idols made of jute, betelnut, coconut shell, nylon ropes, pearls, rice grains and seashells.

Kar takes almost six months to complete each image whose raw materials cost nearly Rs 10,000. “The entire work usually costs me between Rs 25,000 and Rs 30,000,” says the 45-year-old artisan. In order to recover his expenditure, Kar exhibits his creations in different places — during the Rajmela Puja, Lakshmi Puja and Kali Puja since “the budget of most Puja committees in the area cannot meet the cost of his creations. I would be happy if Puja committees from other areas, too, placed orders with me for a different idol,” he added.

The artisan has donated his first creation, made of bamboo, to the Kokrajhar district museum where it now occupies place of pride.

However, despite all the accolades, Kar feels “betrayed” since he claims that promises made by the government have all been broken. “When I donated my bamboo image to the Kokrajhar museum, I was promised a job... it is a different matter that I was given only Rs 1,000,” he said.

Former chief executive member of the now-defunct Bodoland Autonomous Council, Premsing Brahma, had awarded Rs 1,000 to Kar, but was unable to give him a “job”.