Mittals buy Kumartuli idol for UK’s oldest Durga Puja
Times of India | 7 July 2024
12 Kolkata: A fibre-glass Durga idol sponsored by London-based steel magnate Lakshmi Narayan Mittal that is taking shape in Kolkata’s north Kolkata artisan hub Kumartuli for the UK’s oldest Durga Puja will be shipped out in a cargo flight next month.
The fibre-glass idol for London Durgotsav Committee (LDC) in Camden that is being designed in the studio of artist Kaushik Ghosh will be unique as it will feature two lions instead of one.
Mittal, who hails from Kolkata, is the chief patron of LDC. Mittal studied at Shri Daulatram Nopany Vidyalaya in Kolkata from 1957 to 1964 and graduated from St Xavier’s College thereafter. He is sponsoring the cost of the idol and its transportation by air.
“Mittal’s family attends the puja at Swiss Cottage Library venue in London every year and are very fond of Bengali fuchka which is a major attraction at our food stalls,” said Ananda Gupta, who is overall in-charge of organising the puja.
LDC, also popularly known as the Camden Durga Puja, was started by Indian expatriates in 1963.
“After last year’s diamond jubilee celebration (60 years) which included a river carnival on the Thames with the Durga idol followed by ‘sindur khela’, we have planned a grand five-day celebration (Oct 9-13) this year,” added Gupta.
“The idol is now in fibre moulding process after the initial sanction from the LDC of the clay made idol, about a fortnight ago,” said Ghosh, the idol maker.
Ghosh is expecting to finish the whole work within the next five-six weeks, after which it will be dispatched. The finished 8.5 ft “ek chala” Durga (the goddess and her four children — Karthikeya, Ganesha, Saraswati, and Laxmi — are all sculpted in one frame) is expected to fly out from Kolkata around August-end.
“From last year there is a trend to break the traditional pattern of idols and organisers are more prone to thematic Durga that usually get exported in the different parts of the world,” added Ghosh who is the biggest idol exporter in the city. This year Ghosh received export orders of 38 Durga idols.
With less than 100 days left for Bengal’s biggest festivity, more than 70% of fibre-glass Durga idols have already been dispatched for delivery from Kumartuli’s different studios through waterways which include USA, Canada, Russia, Singapore, Dubai and in different European countries.