Madan Das, an employee of a private sector company and a resident of the Odisha capital Bhubaneswar has long been a passionate lover of Eiffel Tower of Paris, a major attraction for tourists from across the globe. No wonder, during Dasara this year when he came to know that a Durga Puja committee in neighbouring Cuttack has put up a welcome arch replicating the wonderful tower, he rushed to the silver city to have a look at it.
“The structure looked wonderful with lighting after sunset. I have a great desire to visit Paris at least once in my lifetime to see the real Eiffel Tower. If my dream comes true, I will definitely remember my Cuttack experience”, said the 37-year-old Das thanking the Cuttack’s Seikh Bazar puja committee that had erected the Paris tower.
Similarly, Samir Pradhan, an undergraduate student of a local college had heard about the Melbourne University building in Australia. He, therefore, was excited when he saw the pandal of the local Durga puja committee in Nayapalli area of Bhubaneswar which was a replica of the Australian university.
A significant feature of this year’s Durga puja festival in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack in Odisha was different puja committees’ decision to put up pandals and welcome gates designed like renowned structures and buildings not only in India but also in different parts of the globe.
“The principal aim behind the decision was to attract more and more people to the puja pandals”, said Dr Jagannath Mohapatra, former Bhubaneswar Mayor and advisor to the local Sahid Nagar puja committee which had designed its pandal this year with the replica of Kolkata’s Birla temple.
Other well-known and popular structures replicated in the puja pandals this year included New Delhi’s Red Fort put up by Malgodam puja committee in Cuttack, the Victoria Memorial of Kolkata erected by Rasulgarh puja committee in Bhubaneswar and the Rashtrapati Bhawan (New Delhi) by Bhubaneswar’s Bamikhal puja committee.
Popular structures from Karnataka had also been showcased by a number of puja committees in the twin cities. They included Mysore Palace (Unit I puja committee in Bhubaneswar) and the Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore by Jobra puja committee in Cuttack.
According to old timers, during Durga puja earlier, puja committee in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar were putting simple pandals and welcome gates. Gradually, the pandals and gates became more stylish. And the turning point came a few years back when Badambadi puja committee in Cuttack put up a welcome arch which was designed like Titanic, the iconic and legendary ship.
The arch attracted huge crowd to Badambadi puja pandal that year and that also marked the beginning of a competition of sorts among the puja committees in the twin cities to designed pandals and welcome gates replicating popular structures. “Now the puja committees compete with each other to have pandals and gates that look like famous structures and buildings”, said 79-year-old P K Jena, a retired Odisha Finance Service official.
However, there are people who feel that putting up costly structures during puja was nothing but sheer wastage of money. “The puja committees should go back to the days of simple pandals and welcome gates instead of wasting money to put poor replicas of the renowned structures. If they are flush with funds they can put it to better use like sponsoring poor students for their higher studies”, felt Sibu Mohanty, a government
employee.
Lakhs of rupees were spent this year for construction of puja pandals. According to an estimate, each puja committee coughed up about Rs five to six lakh to put up pandals and welcome gates replicating famous structures. Skilled labourers and craftsmen were hired from outside the state to do the jobs.
But there are others who do not agree with Mohanty’s view. “Durga puja is a
major festival in Odisha and it comes once a year. Therefore, there was no harm in celebrating it in a big way. Moreover, the puja committees are imparting knowledge among the common people by putting up pandals and gates that look like famous structures of the country and the world”, said 21-year-old engineering student, Mohini Sahu.