Blind to the world, but masters in craft

But as they bend down to grab more mud, their hands go all around the place in a familiar manner that you realise they are blind.  Meet Ram Pal, Sanjay and Pran Pal, three brothers originally from the Shantipur area in West Bengal’s Nadia district. They are all blind by birth owing to a genetic disease and have learnt the art of idol-making from their father.

“Our father had come to the town of Basti long back for making a Durga idol, but he liked the place so much that he decided to settle here permanently,” says the eldest, Ram. Although 40-year-old Ram and Sanjay (32) have settled and carried on with their father’s love for making Durga idols in Basti, their third bother Pran has taken his talent to Madhya Pradesh.

The brothers not only prepare the basic structure for the Durga idols with bamboo and strong threads but also apply mud on them to give them a shape and then colour the same. What is finally produced after months of hard work can definitely give any artisan a run for his money.

Today, as the Navratri is in full swing, a large number of Durga idols in the pandals flocked by the devotees and visitors in and around Basti have been made by Pal brothers only. “We receive orders for hundreds of Durga idols every year,” says Ram.