As things return to normal and we’re nearing the festival season in India, preparations for Durga Puja have begun. However, this year the famous Durgo Pujo pandals are making sure that nobody forgets what we’ve been through this year.
So, here are a few pandals and artwork during this year’s Durga Puja that reflected the rollercoaster year 2020 in its own unique way.
Many pandals and sculptures portrayed the plight of migrant workers and their hardships during this year’s Durgo Pujo.
1. The idol of a migrant worker mother, a shirtless toddler (Kartick) in her arms, worshipped as Goddess Durga at Barisha Club in Behala, West Bengal
2. Another idol showing the migrant worker’s daughter carrying an owl walked right behind her.
3. Another sculpture of migrants was witnessed in Kolkata.
4. A clay sculpture of a migrant labourer at a puja pandal in Bengal.
5. Durga Puja pandal installation art by Naktala Udayan Sangha. This portrayed the pain & plight of the out of state labour force trying to go back to their own states.
The sculptures also showed respect to India’s corona warriors.
6. Sculpture of Durga depicted as a doctor wearing a doctor’s coat and fighting the demon Mahishasur as coronavirus.
7. Cleaners and ambulance worker sculptures were also present.
8. As were nurses and policemen.
9. Artists in Kolkata recreated Bollywood actor Sonu Sood’s philanthropy during the migrant worker crisis due to coronavirus-induced lockdown.
10. Clubs in Kolkata gave tribute to late actor Sushant Singh Rajput by painting ‘Patachitra’ which had the late actor’s pictures.
11. Sushant has been featured on the traditional scroll painting plates.
Coronavirus theme-based pandals were present this year.
12. Maa Durga can be seen defeating a new entrant, ‘Coronasur’.
13. A pandal themed on ‘coronavirus’ in South Dinajpur, West Bengal.
14. A community pandal depicting COVID-19 awareness campaigns in Kolkata.
An interesting year indeed.