Puja colour brings end to 50-year-old stalemate

KOLKATA: Out-of-the-box thinking has taken Durga Puja out of the confines of a pandal at Muchibazar, where Ultadanga Pallisree Club is ushering in unity in diversity. In keeping with the theme — Universal Peace — all the 35-odd homes in the locality are being painted white. Residents are all smiles, as this ends a half-a-century stalemate. All their plans of renovating the exteriors had been put on hold due to family disagreements or owner-tenant disputes.
The family of Sudharani Saha, who is nearly 90, has been residing here for more than a century. But as the brothers could never reach an agreement over painting the exterior, his house had never been touched. “The father of my father-in-law had built the house. It used to be a joint family till recently. And now, if my side of the family wants to colour a particular shade, the other side objects. We could never reach a consensus. Since this is a community initiative, no one has any objection,” smiled Sampa Saha.
The “other side”, that is the family of Malati Saha, 75, lives in the adjacent building. Her daughter-in-law Baby Saha said: “The house %was never painted due to the conflict of brothers. The exterior didn’t even have a plaster coating. Ideally, it should have been painted 25 years ago.”
One of the organizers, Gopal Chowdhury, said: “It wasn’t like we had to approach just 35 owners of 35 buildings. There are several joint owners, and the more recent flat owners. We obtained written permission after convincing them. Most of them were amenable, though a couple of owners threatened to go to cops. One of them went to my home and complained to my mother. But after much persuasion, all of them came on board.”
Binay Bhowmick, a resident of the area since 1947, was among those eager to grab the opportunity. “After years, the exterior have been painted. In my youth, I had financial constraints so I could never get to it. Then we handed it over to a promoter and eventually it was never done,” he said.
The biggest challenge faced by Sushanta Paul, who came up with the concept, was how to turn a tiny 12-ft lane into a Puja venue. “I came here in November. When I entered the lane the first time, as a South Kolkatan, what struck me was the chaos. An epitome of unplanned township, so typical to North Kolkata. A house, apartments, tiled home, small factory, an ‘alur chop’ shop, medicine store — all in one tiny lane. Cable and electrical wires criss-cross, causing visual pollution. Almost no houses were painted. Some people have made new house, they have plastered it but not painted the exterior. After much contemplation, I came up with the idea to unify them in white, the colour of purity — VIBGYOR mixed together,” said the Puja designer. Kumartuli artist Soumen Pal is making the idol on the spot. The Puja has a budget of Rs 45 lakh.
“This is our 66th Durga Puja. Over the years, we would go to all major Pujas, click photos and study them. We always felt we have the potential to break into the major Puja league. Now we are very confident ours will be one of the best in town,” said Ashutosh Das, another committee member.
Durga Puja is barely a month away, but for these North Kolkatans, the festival has already started.