Themes laden with underlying messages to welcome puja revelers in Kolkata

Kolkata: With barely three weeks remaining before Kolkata plunges into its biggest annual carnival, the Durga Puja, organisers are exploring a wide spectrum of puja themes to attract pandal hoppers’ eyeballs and, perhaps also as a bonus, catch the attention of the corporate houses judging the art installations for the myriad awards on offer.

Themes ranging from explorations of sounds in nature and underlining the influence and presence of colours around us, to projecting Bengal’s rich cultural heritage through models and sets, puja committees of the city seem to have given free wings to imagination and ideas that have already taken this community festival to a lofty pedestal, earning it the prestigious UNESCO intangible cultural heritage tag.

Featuring a 20-foot bird installation, the Baguiati Rail Pukur United Club is all set to mesmerise visitors with its theme 'Shabdo' (The Sound), which explores the fading sounds of nature and everyday life that once defined our existence but are now vanishing amid urban chaos.

Gourab Biswas, the club’s puja committee member, told PTI: “Once upon a time, bird calls were an inseparable part of our daily rhythm. As dawn broke, the chirping of birds welcomed the rising sun, and at dusk, their calls announced the homecoming hour."

“Even in the silence of night, voices of owls and nocturnal birds pierced the stillness. Today, such sounds are rarely heard. Also gone are the whirring sounds of cricket,” he said, pointing out that the committee wishes to highlight this lost treasure among the lakhs of revelers expected to throng their pandal this year.

Biswas maintained that the theme would focus on how rapid urbanisation, rampant tree felling, and the construction of concrete high-rises have destroyed the natural habitats of the region’s flora and fauna.

“Birds, which depended on trees for shelter, are gradually disappearing and with them, their voices too. We wish to remind you that humanity’s unchecked dominance over nature is pushing us towards an irreversible ecological loss, a price that future generations will have to pay dearly unless we act now,” he said.

To drive home this message, the pandal will feature a series of installations, including a towering 20-foot-tall artistic representation of birds symbolising the grandeur of nature and its vanishing presence in our urban lives.

Complemented by an immersive soundscape, the experience will also include mime performances, portraying the inner voice of birds and their silent plea to humankind.

“Durga Puja is not just about celebration, but also about awareness, responsibility and the awakening of humanity,” Biswas said.

At the Hazra Park Durgotsab, which steps into its 83rd year, organisers plan to project the spirit of inclusivity, tradition, and community spirit embodied in puja festivities by splashing colours all over.

The theme “Drishtikone” (A Perspective), conceptualised by artist Biman Saha, explores colour not merely as a visual delight, but also as a message.

“For an artist, every hue unveils a fragment of the inner self — of thoughts, emotions, and philosophies. The rainbow colours also reflect the multihued spirit of universality of Durga Puja,” said Sayan Deb Chatterjee, Joint Secretary of the Durgotsab Committee.

“Colour is an ornament of the world. It’s also its heartbeat. Every shade carries an emotion: the warmth of love, the fire of protest, the courage of conviction and the glow of hope. The spirit of universal brotherhood and amity can also be defined by colours,” Chatterjee said..

With ‘Drishtikone’, organisers said they wanted people to look beyond the obvious, to see how colour shapes not just the Goddess’s form but humanity’s very way of thinking.

“Every shade tells a story, and this year we ask everyone to be part of that story,” he added, inviting puja enthusiasts to visit the pandal with family and friends.

Bandhumahal, located in the city’s southern fringes, has themed its puja this year ‘Gorber Bangla o Bangali, Banglar Itihaas’ (The proud history of Bengal and Bengalis), bringing to focus Bengal's rich heritage by means of various artistic depictions in its pandal.

The Jagat Mukherjee Park puja committee in north Kolkata will highlight the roles of AI, its increasing intrusion in people’s lives and send out the message that humans should rule machines and not the other way round.