Barely a month before Durga Puja, artists at Kumartuli are busy finishing the idols of Goddess Durga, her four children and demon Mahishasur. Every year at this time, their workplace comes alive with curious visitors staring while they work.
Tucked away in congested lanes in the city’s north, idol makers at Kumartuli are working 10 hours in a day to meet the September-end deadline. While their studios and their work continue to draw people, they are plagued with problems.
“This business needs quite a lot of initial investment. The major part of the capital is obtained from banks and the majority of our income goes to repay our debts. Labourers and suppliers of raw materials also demand instant cash payment, which leaves us with very little profit,” says Ranjit Sarkar, secretary, Kumartuli Mritshilpi Sanskritik Samiti.
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The festival comes on the tail end of the monsoon and working with clay becomes doubly taxing. Since many of the idols absorb moisture, artists are forced to work on them again.
“This requires more raw materials and labourers and the cost of this is not accounted for when the Puja committees pay us. The additional cost is our loss. About 10 to 12 idols go to waste annually,” Mr. Sarkar says.
Traditionally, artisans derive their roots from Nadia district. Even now, labourers and helpers to the artists mostly come from Nadia. However, the steady flow of labourers is declining.
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“People get easier work near their homes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Why would they come all the way to Kolkata to work here? Until last year the daily wages of semi-skilled workers was Rs. 200. This year it has been doubled,” Mr. Sarkar says.
The artists’ studios are excessively cramped, making it impossible for two persons to walk side by side between the two rows of idols on both sides of the room. The studios are damp and dark even in day time. Many of the studios have a small upper floor where junior artists work on smaller idols.
The congested lanes within Kumartuli pose a threat to the finished idols at the time of delivery to the Puja committees as the elaborate idols often bang into the narrow lanes and get damaged.
A lot of effort and craftsmanship goes behind every idol, says veteran artist Paresh Paul.
“We make the idol as per the description given in the Chandi Path [a compilation of verses explaining the story of Durga]. We had developed new colours so that Goddess Durga could be painted as per the description. However, with the proliferation of theme puja pandals, our work is becoming secondary,” Mr. Paul says.