On the day of Mahalaya this artist got a request to make a durga idol. He did not turn it down! As a last minute effort, he spent the entire night to work on the request. Such are the passion of these artists. They don't always think of just ROI. A
The effort is slowly coming to reality. The festival starts from Saturday 17th October. When I asked the artist can you complete this idol by 17th Oct, he just smiled with a tired face and said - "Sesh na korle ora pujo korbe ki kore?" - meaning "I
Backdrop to foredrop - stages through which the entire year passes by. In other words, similar to this journey, people wait for the pujas to arrive (and this has been happening every year)
Durga idol for a big budget famous puja of Kolkata. The club will celebrate the pujas with lot of fanfare and will expect a lot of crowdpulling to their pandal.  
As you roam in the lanes and bylanes of Kumortuli, you will realise the wide range of idols athat are created in this place. Traditional to modern, low budget to high budget, these artists have an answer to everything
Here is an artist concentrating on his brushstrokes. He seemed to be in deep concentration and not in a worry of finishing within the timeline. Unlike corporate world where we keep doing meetings calling them as "Project Updates" (and discuss the s
...and thats the reason the idol is slowly coming to life [and within the deadline :)]  
and the idol is ready waiting for the final touches while there is advanced work happening on another idol...
Such is the rush for creativity for these artists that they hardly get a breather between making two idols. Yet this is not a factory. Every idol has its own creativity, its own uniqueness....
Especially when you have to bring life in those eyes, every stroke of brush is to create that life. Hence the artists in Kumortuli are not amongst a factory of idols. They are in an art studio where they do these impeccable "chokkhudaan" again and
The temperature at this point was about 35 degrees and it was quite humid and the time was about 7 pm in the evening. There was so much buzz in the roads with people talking and chatting. Nothing seemed to have disturbed the concentration of this a
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And another idol is ready!  
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There are other forms of artists as well in Kumortuli, they focus on the flowers, ornaments, clothes that is worn by Durga when the entire idol making and painting is ready. And these are not ordered in bulk from China!! They are also made with equ
There are a series of shops which make and sell these...
Immense concentration is required to create these ornaments. Here is an artist family where everyone is busy creating the ornaments.
When I asked him how long are you working everyday, he mentioned with a smile that he does not have time to count! And with the same response as the previous artist - "Sesh na korte parle thakur ready habe ki kore" meaning: If I do not complete it
Final touches to the ornaments.
Another artist busy in creating ornaments....
Once the ornaments are in place, again the artists get busy using them to give the final touches. Here an artist setting up the ornaments on the idols....
...and another artist giving the final touches when the idol is nearly ready to leave
After lots of hardwork here is a series of idols who are now ready to start off to the communities in Kolkata where Durga puja will be celebrated....
Ready to go....
Ready to roar....
All in the queue (but remember this is not a factory)
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Some will head to the South Kolkata, others will head to North Kolkata  
These are a group of professional who specialise in a seamless delivery of the idols in the different pandals. As you have noticed the idols are made with clay (and not plaster of paris). Hence they are delicate. After somuch effort if a small dama
...which is done by these professionals. They wait in big groups outside every studio and offer their help in transportation when the different clubs / sanghas come to take the idol to their respective clubs. These group of people use ropes and bam
At this time of the year it often rains without much of an advanced notice....
Kumortuli takes care of that as well. The durga is efficiently wrapped such that the melting happens only during the bisarjan or immersion ceremony and not it any way during the happy 4-5 days of Durga puja.  After all the efforts here is dev
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