This year when goddess Durga looked down at the earth before coming for her annual holiday, she was shocked. “It’s black with dirt and pollution! Where is the greenery I love so much?” she asked her children.
In a bid to raise awareness about waste disposal, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation had got theatre artistes to stage a tongue-in-cheek street play at several pujas between Saptami and Navami. Not an elaborate affair, the actors simply wore white T-shirts with their character’s names printed — Devi Durga, Mahadeb, their children and Narad.
“Starting garbage segregation at home is just a matter of time. We are doing everything to raise awareness. Hoardings will come up in every block market. Once the date is decided, we will organise a big procession to mark the start. Only organic waste that decomposes quickly will be collected daily from every house and compost machines will be placed in every block to convert the organic waste collected into compost. Our staff have already been trained in this regard,” said Devasish Jana, the mayor-in-council member in charge of solid waste management.
Durga puja, he pointed out, was a great platform to reach out to people. “Also an audio-visual medium works better than outdoor display. So we thought of staging these plays in as many blocks as possible during the festival,” Jana added.
The play began with Durga and the children grumbling that Mahadeb had still not bought tickets for their October vacation. When Narad was called to do the needful, he pointed his phone camera down to earth and asked the family to choose where they wanted to go. That’s when the group realised how polluted the planet had become.
“Last month when Ganesh went to earth alone, his mount — the rat — fell sick. The poor creature ate up plastic bags mistaking them to be food,” said Narad. After a long search, the group found some semblance of greenery in good old Salt Lake.
“Oh, Salt Lake looks cleaner thanks to the efforts of (mayor) Krishna (Chakraborty) and Devashis Jana. This is where I shall visit and I too shall help them in their cause,” said Durga.
The pantheon then asked residents to promote greenery, not use plastic bags under 50 microns thickness and to use two separate dustbins — one green and one blue — to dump kitchen and dry waste respectively.
The play was written and directed by Aditya Roy of Baguiati Pratyay theatre group who said that the best way to send across a social message was through laughter. Durga was played by Puja Baulia, Mahadeb by Surajit Mondal and Narad by Mrinal Mondal. “We got great response from the audience and many came and confessed that they know they should be keeping the city clean but don’t,” said Roy.
“We are staging the skit at FD, HA, FE, AK, BG, AC, BD, AH, AE Part 2, CK-CL, GD, HB, IB, EC, AD, BJ blocks, Labony and GE Block Customs’ Quarters,” said Moinak Simlai of Image Ad Event Management group. “Officials from the corporation are coming to look us up at various pandals.”
“The play was light-hearted but hit upon an important message,” said Arya Ganguly, secretary of the AD Block puja. “I’m sure whoever watched it will remember.”
Asked when garbage segregation would become mandatory for residents, Jana said it was unlikely to start in October but would not be much later either.
