Drawing inspiration from their roots, city Puja honours the spirit of social work
The Statesman | 24 August 2025
As Durga Pujas carefully work upon their themes, one of the popular Pujas South Kolkata, Samaj Sebi has gone back to their roots to make it their theme this year.
In their 80th year, the Puja committee is honouring their founding members, the initial few settlers in the Lake View area, who started the annual affair.
They have named their theme, ‘Pather Panchali 1946’, where they have decided to decorate a street and maintain it throughout the year. They will beautify the street with artefacts, which they would be using for decorating their pandal.
For Samaj Sebi, it all started in 1946-47, when many of the riot-hit refugees started settling around the place after Partition. Many of the young professionals, who were constructing their houses pooled in their resources and funds to help the settlers.
The organisers say they are remembering the time when they served the riot- affected people. Their existence has a lot to do with freedom fighter Leela Roy. She was the one who suggested holding a Durga Puja here. In those days, Leela Roy and her team consisting of astrophysicist Meghnad Saha, Sarat Chandra Bose, Anil Roy and others would meet at historian Jadunath Sarkar’s house, who was building his house in the locality. When they came to know that a few boys from the locality were doing relief work, they appealed to Birendra Nath Mitra, another resident of the area for fund collection. A handsome amount was collected and while it was being handed over to the Red Cross Society, they named the collective ‘Samaj Sebi’.
“Leela Roy suggested that during these times of violence, we (our seniors) should start a Durga Puja, which will promote harmony, and as people congregate, we can promote social work too. Since then, we have been following the tradition, saving money for social work from our collection during Pujas,” says Arijit Maitra, general secretary of the puja committee.
On their beautification drive, the club is inspired by their street art (alpona) on Lake Road in 2017. The same stretch they would now put up as a ‘model street’. “We will decorate the road with various artefacts, which we will be using at our pandal. We will preserve them at the model street. For this, we plan to take permission from the corporation (KMC). We will also decorate the pavements with recycled plastic. The idea is that the local people take care of the Durga Puja, now the Puja will take care of the neighbourhood,” said Mr Maitra.
The theme is in line with chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s recent announcement to create a Durga Angan, where she plans to preserve some of the best idols from the Durga Pujas. The club hopes to be ready with their model street by April, in time for the Bengali New Year.
The club also plans to preserve the art deco-style houses in the area. Many of the houses here have traces of 1910-20 artwork and architecture. “We are trying to restore these houses and also put up lamp posts in front of them, giving out information about the house, its owner and history,” said the organiser about paying their tribute to their founding members.