While the rest of the city was busy debating whether community pujas should be held or not, a pair of 10-year-old twin sisters in CJ Block went ahead and built their own miniature Durga puja pandal at home.

Aayushi and Amritaa Dutta have always liked craft and have built miniature bags, beds and tables before. “But this was our largest and most ambitious project yet,” says Aayushi, the elder of the fraternal twins.

Amritaa recalls how a few days before the Pujas the girls fished out their school shoe boxes. “We cut out a portion that would be the entrance to the pandal and glued and taped the boxes securely,” she says. They wrapped the box with coloured paper and upon their mother Manushree’s suggestion, added paper lanterns for effect.

“We had a Durga showpiece at home that we placed in the pandal and it looked beautiful,” says Aayushi. Amritaa adds that since their block pandal was very simple this year, their miniature pandal looked more decorative. “Given a chance, we would love to help decorate the block pandal next time,” she smiles.

Their father Abhishek added the finishing touch by fixing tooni bulbs to the pandal.

The twins’ mother took pictures while the girls were at work and made a collage at the end. The video was screened on CJ Block’s Facebook page along with other cultural programmes put up by residents during the Pujas. The miniature pandal is now displayed in their living room.