Non-resident Bengalis partake in the celebration of Durga Puja with equal fervor as their counterparts at home, but it is rare for one among them to sculpt the idol intended for worship.
Warwickshire Sarbojonin is a new puja that started this autumn, but their idol hasn’t been shipped from Kumartuli. Debabrata Mukhopadhyay, one of the organisers, sculpted it.
“I’m a Sodepur boy who worked in Pune before shifting to the UK three years ago with my wife and daughter, who is now in Class VIII. Here, our nearest Durga Puja was an hour and a half away in Birmingham. This year, 11 families got together to start a Puja in our vicinity. I ended up sculpting the idol,” said Mukhopadhyay, an automobile engineer working with Jaguar Land Rover.
The majority of pujas conducted overseas import idols from Kumartuli, which incurs significant costs. Furthermore, the volatile geopolitical situation contributes to uncertainty, additional paperwork, and potential delays in imports.
Mukhopadhyay has always had an artistic bent of mind, having attended sculpting workshops at art colleges in Calcutta and then assisting Durga Puja sculptors in Pune. So when he proposed to craft the idol himself, his friends only encouraged the idea. They believe this will be a first for a Puja in the UK.
“This was my first idol,” smiled the man who has been working on it after office hours and on weekends since February. “Since hay isn’t available here, I used thermocol as the base and applied moulding clay over it. I went to Calcutta around July this year to get everything else we need — soil from the Ganga, from Sonagachhi, a Panjika, utensils for the deities, and also smaller idols of Durga’s children.”
The Durga idol is the only one Mukhopadhyay is making. It is 5ft high and the entire structure with the chala is around 6.5ft. The puja took place in a rented hall over three days and was conducted by first-time priest Nilanjan Banerjee, a doctor. His assistant was investment strategist Dipanjan Roy.
The 5ft idol will not be immersed (for that they have procured a 10 inch idol from Calcutta) and will stay in Mukhopadhyay’s house till next year’s puja.
“This way, we get to show and teach our children about our culture miles away from home,” he said. “When they see the idols, they come up with questions — why does Ganesha have a trunk, who is Saraswati… it delights me not only for having created the idol but also for initiating a puja in the first place.”