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Floods don't dampen Puja festivities

Rifat Jawaid in Calcutta

In just another four days, the ancient city of Calcutta will celebrate Durga Puja -- the most important event in her calender year. This year, however, the festive season has been dampened, thanks to the severe floods in West Bengal where over 1,000 people have lost their lives, 17 million have been affected and five million houses have either been swept away or have collapsed. In fact, the degree of devastation witnessed makes it the greatest natural calamity West Bengal has witnessed in the last century.

The magnitude of the floods is easily gauged by the fact that even Calcutta was not left untouched by Nature's fury. Its elderly denizens cannot recall the last time the city was subjected to such havoc. Though the city was inundated on September 24 last year; it does, in comparison, seem more like an overnight affair when incessant rains submerged a large part of her lowlying areas.

Yet, many of Calcutta's citizens refuse to let it affect either their preparations for the Puja or the famed shopping spree they indulge in at this time of the year. The work on the decorative pandals hosting Durga idols are in full swing and the stores are flooded with puja enthusiasts, who clearly don't want to be far behind others in forking out staggering sums in ticking off items from their well-planned shopping lists.

rediff.com spoke to organisers of many Puja committees as well as middle-class Bengali families to judge the effect of the floods on their festive mood. Many of them seemed unperturbed about the calamity that has befallen their fellow Bengalis in nine districts of the state.

"Floods and cyclones," said Suprotim Mukherjee, "always happen in Bengal. We Bengalis have become used to these unfortunate phenomena. Though such natural calamities do momentarily impact the people of Calcutta, it doesn't move us as much as a war-like situation would have. You saw how Calcutta went out of its way to donate generously during the Kargil war. But floods do not really affect our Puja preparations or the purchases we make during this time. Durga Puja has been part of us for years. Natural disasters, such as this year's floods, have now become routine. Just wait for a few more days and people will even stop talking about it."

On the other hand, there are a few who seem clearly moved by the misery of the millions of marooned people. Poulami Biswas, a housewife, has, for example, decided to curtail her Puja expenditure substantially. "How can your conscience allow you to celebrate when thousands of people have been starving for days? I can't and won't do that. I prefer to donate the money I had earmarked for shopping to the relief fund. There cannot be a more satisfactory and joyous feeling than helping needy people in their moments of despair."

Many organisers of Puja committees say they had already spent a large part of their budget when the fury of the floods made their presence felt. Adi Ballygunge Puja Committee secretary Ranadhir Dhar admits that the statewide inundation has had a crippling effect on this year's Puja preparations. According to him, the artisans usually employed to erect pandals come from rural areas. With most of Bengal reeling under ravaging floods, there is little or no information about them.

"Now we have to get the construction work done by relatively inexperienced artistes," he mourned. "As a result, Puja enthusiasts may not be able to see the best of pandals this year. We have also cut down on our projected expenditure and will be donating what we save to the fund for the flood victims. Besides, this year, the donations have not been as forthcoming as they were in the past. That's why our total expenditure has come down from Rs 8,00,000 to Rs 5,00,000. Had we not planned everything in advance, we would have made this year's Puja a small affair. Even we feel that it's not ethical to enjoy when 60 per cent of the people in our own state are suffering."

Every year, about 1,400 pandals are erected during the Durga Puja season. Many of them receive awards from corporate houses for their artistic excellence. This year, the highest prize money -- Rs 75,000 for the best Puja pandal -- has been offered by a web site. Many pandals are planning to donate the money, in case they win, to the chief minister's relief fund.

The 21 Pally Puja committee -- they won the Asian Paints (1995) and Pratidin (1999) awards for best pandal -- is one of them. According to Tapash Ghosal, his organisation has unanimously decided to minimise the expenses as far as possible. Yet, he admits they have not cut down much on pandals or idols, since the artisans concerned depend on the Puja committees for their income.

"They are all from lower middle class families and depend heavily on Puja committees, so depriving them of their livelihood is not a good idea. But we can surely follow austerity measures as far as the amusement, music and lighting of pandals is concerned. We have also agreed to donate the winner's amount to the relief fund instead of saving it for next year puja as we did in the past," says Ghosal.

Meanwhile, a market research group, TNS Mode, has predicted that Calcuttans will spend Rs 6.21 billion during the 10 day festive season, which extends till Diwali. According to the survey, Rs 2.75 billion would be spent on garments, Rs 530 million on footwear, Rs 580 million on travel and Rs 235 million on consumer durables.

Mode's managing direct D P Basu told rediff.com that the survey was first of its kind in West Bengal. "We mainly interviewed housewives since their decisions play a dominant role in shopping during the Puja. The TNS Mode study assessed the purchasing pattern of the 25,00,000 households in Calcutta and the amount they intended to spend on each of these items. We also took special note of their favourite brands."

The survey says the consumer durables that Calcuttans will look for during this festive season include pressure cookers, toasters, mixers, refrigerators, microwave ovens, washing machines, air-conditioners, colour televisions, video recorders, tape recorders, Walkmans, music systems, computers, cars, motorbikes and scooters.

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