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One of the most sacred occassions for the Indians, Durga Puja is the biggest festival for the Bengali community. It is the occassion when everywhere across the state of West Bengal grand pandals (huge and elaborately crafted temporary structures erected to temporarily house idols) are set up to house life-sized or bigger idols of Goddess Durga and her four children for four days. Earlier the pandals just used to be grand structures but with time, more and more innovations began to be made and each pandal began to have a theme. In recent years, it has become somewhat of a tradition and style statement to relate each Puja Pandal with a theme. Know all about the themes of various Puja Pandals in Kolkata for the year 2009. If you like our article on Durga Puja Pandal Themes 2009, click here to refer this page to all your friends and every Durga Puja enthusiast. Have a great time.
Suruchi Sangha, New Alipore With greater stress being laid on environmental protection, a lot of puja organisers have gone for the "Green theme". The Suruchi Sangha of New Alipore have also chosen the environment as the subject for their Puja pandal striving to recreate the peaceful, natural ambience of Jharkhand amidst the bustle of Kolkata. To realize this theme, the organizers have started well in advance growing plants of at least 85 varieties throughout last year on its designated plot. And their efforts have been rewarded with a dense foliage, with many of the plants growing as high as 30 feet. This will form the green habitat of the goddess and her children. The makers hope this would spread awareness against global warming among the Bengalis. 
Jodhpur Park "Purano Kolkata" or "(Recreation of) The old Kolkata" has been a popular puja pandal theme for many organisers for some years now. The Jodhpur Park puja association, a popular attraction for pandal-hoppers, strives to keep the tradition alive with its 2009 puja theme being the same theme. This year, the organisers are busy recreating the Zamindar era of old Kolkata when wealthy nobles competed with each other to hold the grandest Durga Puja celebration. The Jodhpur Park pandal is to be created like an old palace, complete with coloured glass windows, pillars, cornices, verandahs and even a thakurdalan, where the goddess and her children are to be housed and worshipped. The entire budget of this puja is Rs 20 lakh, which surpasses its previous budget of last year.
Bosepukur Talbagan Association The organisers of this association have chosen to revisit the artistic roots of Bengal with plans of decorating its pandal with artworks reminiscent of "patachitras" from Kalighat, Midnapore and Bankura. An innovative aspect of this pandal is the idol of the Goddess, that in the Rajrajeshwari style, will look different when observed from different sides.
Sreebhumi Sporting Club The wonderful Akshardham temple of Maharasthra has been a favourite subject of puja organisers ever since it hit the headlines following the terrorist attack on 2002. For its 2009 pandal theme, Sreebhumi Sporting Club wants to bring the grand temple alive a with spectacular lighting arrangement. Not less than 14 huge gates of light are to be set up on either side of VIP Road. The budget of the entire arrangement is a staggering Rs 30 lakh. Incidentally, the same association had earlier recreated the orginal Akshardham temple of Gandhinagar for its pandal.
66 Pally Like the Jodhpur Park organisers, 66 Pally has also fallen prey to the charms of old Kolkata. With the growing concern over heritage restoration, something that most of the old arhitectures in the city are in dire need of, this pandal is to be created as a beautifully restored baganbari (garden house) of the zamindars (Bengali landlords). The idol of the goddess has been etched out of a huge earthenware vessel. The conception and construction of the pandal and its theme is being overseen by noted filmmaker Goutam Ghosh.
Salt Lake The Salt Lake puja committees are trying to raise the bar higher for other associations of the city with their exuberant arrangement. With a number of blocks including AJ, BG, FD, GD and HA commemorating their silver jubilee year, the Salt Lake celebration is expected to be a splendid affair. The GD block puja committee plans to model their pandal on the Oprah house of Paris. The structure is to be 75 ft tall, 84 ft long and 40 ft wide, costing about 12 lakh. The AJ block pandal theme is “Shakti Pith”, 59 holy Hindu sites that are to be displayed in the pandal complete with the rock- carved temples situated in the Himalayas. Temple is also a theme for the BG block puja with the Oriental temple of Buddhist cult being the subject. The highly popular terracotta theme is being adopted by the FD block, which has spent an astounding Rs 20 lakh for the decorations and lighting of its pandal. The HA block plans to capture the glory of the ancient Maya civilisation in its pandal decoration and the idol structure with the help of the government art college artists. Theatre light arrangement is to be used to enhance the period look of the pandal. Labony Estate, one of the oldest in the township, celebrates their 35th anniversary this year and has chosen “Naari Shakti” (Women Power) as their theme. Rs 6 lakh is being spent for the entire process and the master craftsman Paresh Nath has been handed the task of modelling the Durga idol. To merge the mythical with the real, pictures of successful women like Lata Mangeskar, PT Usha, Suchitra Sen and Nargis are to be used to decorate the entire estate and the pandal as glaring symbols of female power. |
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