It's about respect: Maa Durga Puja

Anu Gulmohar speaks to new-age eco-warriors, who are hoping to mend old ways and pave the way for more affectionate and considerate goodbyes to Maa Durga'

Some five years ago, on the joyous occasion of Vijay Dashmi, once the throngs of devotees had bid adieu to Maa Durga, Ashok Bose stood at the banks of the river, repulsed and remorseful at the scene before him. Every year, environmentalists cry hoarse about the appalling state of the Ganga after the immersion of the idols and how the river struggles to cope with the oblations offered to the Goddess. But not many devotees stop to look back at its sordid state. Of those that do, even lesser conjure the courage to not turn their back to it again, and instead take on the responsibility to clean-up the river and the practices that harm the environment.

"For ten days we pray to the idol. We decorate it with beautiful costumes, flowers, offer prayers from morning till night. On Vijay Dashmi people go with a lot of enthusiasm for the immersion, and till that point it feels very good. But as we make our way back, we see the same idols strewn around, the flowers stuffed inside plastic bags don’t go with the river waters and reach Maa Durga like we’d like to believe, but instead, they lie in the water like heaps of rubbish. Similar is the fate of the costumes, toxic paints and thermacol," shares Ashok Bose, President of Dakshin Palli Durga Puja Samiti, CR Park, New Delhi. And so five years ago, he returned home and looked-up on the Internet for the possible solutions for the problem. "I realised that the government has spent lakhs and crore for this cause, but nothing changes because we ourselves don’t wish for things to change," expressed Bose.

What are the basic evils that people in all their innocent ignorance committing? The devout have been trying to make their idols bigger, grander, brighter, and in that pursuit, they’ve opted for materials, which are not bio-degradable, such as plastic, cement and plaster of Paris. They have moved toward paints, which when immersed in water release carcinogenic metals like mercury, chromium and lead. Not only are they lethal for the aquatic life, they also mix with the drinking water that you and I could eventually be consuming. And thus the rallying call of the environmentalists to use natural materials that dissolve and don’t pollute the water. Says environment activist Vandana Shiva, "The need is to go back to natural paints, the way we used to do it without all these lethal toxic paints. The clay images have absolutely zero impact, the silt comes from the rivers, goes back to the rivers."

"The idol the Dakshin Palli Durga Puja Samiti has made this time is without costume, without artificial jewellery, without thermocol and plastics. Everything has been made using mud – jewellery, hair, everything," shared Bose. Their previous year’s idol too was made in adherence to similar environment-friendly measures, and it went on to win Sahara Samay NCR’s Best Pratima Award. This year they’re collaborating with Berger Paints and using their new non-toxic paints for their idol. "Breath Easy is an acrylic emulsion, made with very low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) content. We have used pigments, which are free of lead and all carcinogenic metals. The paint provides sheen, and from a 45-degree angle the paints reflect light," says Rajesh Sahay, Regional Manager, Berger Paints.

The Bengal Environment Department and the Pollution Control Board this year introduced such lead-free paints to the idol-makers, and distributed paint worth Rs 1 lakh to 60 artists at Kumartuli, Kolkata’s idol-making centre. Like the Dakshin Palli Durga Puja Samiti, other puja committees too are trying to be more caring to the environment. Kolkata’s Milan Park Durga Puja committee, Delhi’s Mela Ground Committee, Chittaranjan Park Kali Mandir Society are among those choosing idols made and painted with eco-friendly products. Kolkata’s Sreerampur Durga Puja Committee is planning to plant 100 trees and raise awareness of solar power. Another decision being taken by most committees is to not pollute the Ganga by throwing the plastic bags carrying tonnes of flowers, but instead to put them in earthen pots and bury them.

The drum beat of the dhaki is symbolic of the Durga Puja festivities, and equally emblematic are the white feathers decorating the drums. Little thought is given to the fact that for the trimmings of just one drum, roughly four birds are killed. An estimated 4,000 open-bill storks and egrets are killed across Midnapore, Murshidabad and Malda region alone every year. Says Anu Ganguly of PETA India, "De-feathering is extremely painful, since the birds’ feathers are firmly held in follicles, the wall of which is richly supplied with sensory fibres and nerves. As a Calcuttan, the beats of the dhaki no longer symbolise the rhythm of the festive season and the spirit of Durga Puja to me. The resonating beats would certainly lose their magic for many if people could hear the screams of the birds tortured to ‘decorate’ the instruments."

Much is being done to save the sanctity of this festival and for keeping its image from being tarnished any further. The government has actively been sending instructions to the Puja committees for making the puja a more environment-conscious do. But better guidance is the need of the hour. "Awareness needs to be spread about what being eco-friendly entails. Just like there is a meeting with the police, fire department, MCD, there should be a compulsory workshop for all puja committees in which it’s explained about what exactly is eco-friendly. If a workshop is done and terms and conditions are explained in detail, and perhaps a certificate is given upon meeting 90-100 per cent of the requirements, a sea-change would be noticed," suggests Ashok Bose.

"We need to turn every festival into a celebration of nature!" says Vandana Shiva, and with every year more and more people are finding resonance in this thought. In the coming years be prepared for the all-natural face of Durga Puja, all thanks to people such as Ashok Bose.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Run after passion and not money, says Arindam Chaudhuri
IIPM BBA MBA B-School: Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize To Irom Chanu Sharmila
Award Conferred To Irom Chanu Sharmila By IIPM
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
IIPM Lucknow – News article in Economic Times and Times of India