Artist Suman Chandra is a well-known face in the art and creative world of West Bengal. While his speciality of working with coal-mine landscapes keeps him away from home, we caught up with him who recounted his favourite Durga Puja memories at his hometown Tamluk and Santiniketan while also spotlighting a humble memory of Durga Puja he encountered at his research landscape.
When we asked Suman about his fondest Durga Puja memories, he replies, “I have grown up in Tamluk by the banks of the river Rupnarayan hearing stories of idols being made by my uncle, artist Paresh Maity, from my mother. Almost a month before Mahalaya, I used to come back from school early and go with my mother to see idols being made. This is etched in my memory - to see the idols being made from scratch, and sit there for hours after hours seeing the process. When I grew up, I have also painted the Chaalchitra of the idols.”
Talking about the kind of Durga Puja taking place in his hometown, he mentions, “In our area there is no culture of pandal hopping because the number of Durga Pujas are very less. We have the neighbourhood Puja which takes place on a grand scale. It’s a very old traditional Durga Puja and mostly everyone comes there.”
What makes his memories of Durga Puja all the more special are little nuances which hold bigger meanings. He says, “More than pandal hopping, it was going with my mother to pick up shiuli flowers and dropping them at the temple, these stay with me. I remember on every Sasthi we have to give alpona on the doorstep. There is a small fruit called pipi phol in local language. We used to go and pick those. With them, sindoor and white colour Maa used to give alpona. This is considered as a very sacred tradition on Sasthi “
But this Durga Puja from 2022 remains etched in his mind. “Since I work mostly with the coal-mine area landscape, around 2022, I was there since Mahalaya to Nabami. Over there I have experienced a very simple Durga Puja, with a basic pandal with orange-blue-yellow cloths. It was a very sabeki ekchala puja. But what will always remain etched in my mind would be seeing the kids who usually roam around the villages, bring mud from the local rivers and make small idols. They prayed to those idols and asked passersby to halt for a while as well.”
So how does Durga Puja look like now, we asked. He mentions, “During college I have seen a few Durga Pujas that happen in Kolkata. But mostly I have avoided them. For the last few years during Durga Puja I have been living in Santiniketan. I see the Surul Rajbari Durga Puja till Saptami. Here, on Saptami they have the Nababodh, which means musicians play live on a platform on the gate. So, this Rajbari belongs to the original landlords of Santiniketan from whom Rabindranath Tagore’s father purchased the land. From Ashtami to Dashami I go back home. My mama (Paresh Maity) comes over and I go to the Ashtami puja with my mother. Going to all my relatives’ house and having nadu on Dashami, even today these are annual rituals at my place.”
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