A chhau performance to mark Hatibagan Sarbojanin’s Durga puja 2008 flag-off. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Here comes Durga puja!

Yes, you read that right. Even as the sound of the dhak of Puja 2007 rings in our ears, the organisers of a baroari puja have drummed up a first-off-the-blocks beat for Puja 2008.

On Saturday evening, Hatibagan Sarbojanin Durgotsab Committee invited five Puja theme-makers — Amar Sarkar, Bhabatosh Sutar, Tamal Krishna, Purnendu Dey and Prashanta Pal — to flag off next year’s festival and even unveil a logo.

Abhijit Bose, the Hatibagan committee treasurer, explained the first-mover advantage: “This is to involve the entire locality of 3,000 residents in the Puja as a round-the-year enterprise, to stop the enthusiasm of our volunteers from flagging after Puja 2007, to flag off our fund-raising campaign at once, and to ensure that we have enough time to implement a good idea.”

Launching a campaign for Puja 2008, while other organisers are still busy organising Vijaya Sammelanis for Puja 2007, is a first. Local MP Mohd Selim was all praise for the tactical move: “This is the age of competition. On the one hand, the organisers have designed a logo which goes with today’s corporate culture and on the other, they are looking to spread out the man-hours spent for Puja work through the year. Also, better community participation will be ensured next year.”

For most organisers now, the ceremonial start to a Durga puja takes place on Rathyatra in July, with the kathamo (frame) behind the idol being worshipped.

For organisers of theme pujas, the planning process starts much earlier. Dipankar Chatterjee of Haridevpur’s 41 Palli Club said: “We hold a meeting on December 25, in which next year’s calendar is drawn up and the Puja budget decided.”

An official launch by Hatibagan with 12 months to go came as a pleasant surprise for residents. If Chandra Sensharma said she had never seen anything like this in her 65 years at Hatibagan, youngsters Shubham Pramanik and Smita Chatterjee had a spring in their steps. “We are gearing up to present a great Puja next year,” they beamed.

The theme-makers were also thrilled by the novelty of the move. “Normally, talks with organisers get finalised only around February,” said Amar Sarkar and Prashanta Pal.

Now that Hatibagan has raised the bar, won’t other organisers take the cue and say hello to one Puja immediately after saying goodbye to another? “That may well be the case, but we will be remembered for having shown the way,” smiled Bose of the Hatibagan Puja committee.