Global touch to Kolkata fest

West Bengal's biggest autumn festivity Durga Puja is being presented to international tourists and Non-resident Indians across the world this season.

The five day celebration, as packaged and visualised by the organisers include among other things a glimpse of the heritage sites in the city, river cruises and hopping night tours around Kolkata where Durga is viewed in beautifully decorated temples, built temporarily for the occasion by community organisers.

Millions of enthusiastic revellers participate in the festivity spanning five days during which the crowd turn-out surges from 50,000 to over a million in certain areas of the city where festivities run throughout the night.

The festival comes to a sudden end when the clay image of the deity, worshipped with such devotion and community participation is finally immersed in the river as part of a ritual known as "immersion."

While the organisers are planning to offer a bit of all this fun and frolic to international tourists, there are plans for gala evenings mixed with interludes of ethnic dance recitals, cultural shows and crafts exhibition.

A spokesman for 'Happenings,' a private initiative that has teamed up with the West Bengal government says that according to initial plans the cultural shows would include Manipuri dance performance and classical dance. The organisers are also trying to rope in Vikram Ghosh for presenting what is being called as the "Dance of the East."

"We are pitching for high end international tourists," says Bandana Bakshi, a spokesperson for 'Happenings'.

The package is priced at $750. For domestic tourists it is priced approximately at Rs 22,000.

The project to draw international visitors this year is getting the support of the federal tourism ministry, as well.

The organisers hope that Indian tourism outlets in foreign countries would soon start offering the package to NRIs and other tourists. Already queries have come from Japan, says Bakshi.

The West Bengal Minister for Tourism, Dinesh Dakua told Gulf News that Bengal's biggest annual celebration has been evoking interest among international tourists. But the government lacked the necessary infrastructure earlier to offer such a package. "We hope to make a modest beginning this season and fine tune the package in future," says Dakua.

The clay modeller's locality in Kumartuli within the city itself is an interesting venue for tourists, say some other private organisers who feel that this could also be a part of the package considering the uniqueness of the artisans. It can be an attractive draw if the organisers arrange to showcase the artisans' expertise of modelling the images. Even without the festivity there are foreign visitors to Kumartuli throughout the year, they say.

Kumartuli in the northern part of Kolkata and located on the banks of the river Hooghly is one of the busiest in the city now. The artisans are now primarily catching up with the supply schedule of Durga images to NRIs, orders for which come well in advance.

"But we use fibre and paper pulp instead of clay for Durga images for NRI customers outside India because of the chances of breakage," explains Amarnath Ghosh, an artisan who has a large number of orders.

This year his customers from abroad include two from Australia, six from the US, three from Jamaica, one from Singapore, one from Austria, one from Rome and four more from some other countries.

The prices range from Rs 60,000 to Rs 100,000, says Ghosh.

"The most interesting aspect of the celebration abroad is that the customers often include non- Bengali NRIs. It gives the festivity an universal dimension," Ghosh says.