Paschim Vihar pandal emerges winner

NEW DELHI: Ashtami on Tuesday saw the culmination of Durga Devi Namastute, TOI's contest for the best puja pandals and idols in NCR. Over a hundred pandals across the city had participated. While some chose to stick to the traditional themes, there were many who did not hesitate experimenting with new concepts.
From trying to capture an Egyptian look, depicting Pharoahs, to incorporating the British style of architecture, to even having a facade resembling the summer abode of the Maharaja of Tripura, the puja samitis played with varying themes this year.The idols too wore contrasting looks. Many were in the Ek-Chala style, graced by traditional `Sola' ornaments and some had the idols displayed separately. Many got their artisans and material all the way from Kolkata, Mumbai and even Allahbad.
A piece of art can only be appreciated by artistes themselves and therefore, the pandals were evaluated by two very renowned artists Sudip Roy, a painter, and Prateek Chowdhury, a sitarist. Given the meticulous execution of the concepts and ideas by the organizers, the choice of winners was not easy for the judges.
"The karigars surely have worked very hard to come up with these beautiful and magnificent pandals. I really liked the ones which had kept it simple. Another important observation about this year's pandals was that there were many, who along with the festivities and celebrations, made it a point to give out a message to the society as well,'' said Sudip Roy.
There were a number of parameters based on which the pandals and idols were evaluated foremost being the design and decoration.
It was a close call between the pandals of the Paschim Vihar Bengali Association and the Milani Cultural & Welfare Association (MCWA), Mayur Vihar. However, considering the technical aspects, Paschim Vihar, with its intricate detailed artwork, grabbed the award. It took 46 days of painstaking work for 18 expert karigars, all from Kolkata, to complete the decorations of this pandal, which portrays a temple with fine images of gods and goddesses carved out of sea-shells carpeting the entire structure.
"It has an exquisite design and almost looks real. The craftsmanship is of superior quality. What I value the most is the fact that it is sober and not glaring to the eye in any way,'' said Prateek Chowdhury.
The MCWA, too, stood out with its unusual theme based on the history of the newspaper. It required enormous research into history for the organizers to highlight and display all the milestones achieved since the first newspaper was born.
Ashtami was also the day when thousands poured in to the pandals to feast on `Bhog'. Most Bengalis take a break from work and enjoy the afternoon with family on Day eight and nine day of the puja. "Ashtami's bhog draws huge crowds. The food is also prepared keeping this in mind. Our pandal was visited by more than 5,000 people for bhog,'' said Debashis Saha, head of the organising committee at Matri Mandir, Safdarjung Enclave, which bagged the third prize for the best pandal.