Fire, smoke and sound: Dussehra once again and effigies line west Delhi streets

New Delhi: Demon heads line up in rows, and torsos, limbs and gigantic skirts crowd dividers… Dussehra days are here again and the streets of west Delhi’s Titarpur are awash with colour as buyers look to pick up an effigy and makers hurriedly put last minute touches to their work.

It will go up in a blaze of fire, smoke and sound on Saturday when the effigies of Ravana, Kumbhkaran and Meghnad are burnt in an age-old celebration of the fight of good over evil. But then that is what Dussehra is all about, said the artisans who use this time of the year to make an extra buck.

And the famed stretch between Tagore Garden and Subhash Nagar, Asia's biggest market of the 10-headed demon king and his brothers, is where customers and craftspersons head to. It is where effigies of the demon triumvirate are fashioned and parcelled across the country to be burnt to cinders on D-day.

The effigies come in all sizes, from one feet to 50, costing about Rs 400-700 per feet.

The money is not great but enough for Ramesh Rathore, a first-time effigy maker who learnt the craft from YouTube and made his way from Bengaluru.

"I make ceramic pots in Bengaluru. I was visiting my family here in Delhi, and since there wasn't much work, I thought I, too, should make some effigies and earn money.

"I learnt the craft from YouTube and made 150 effigies. The response has been really good. I won't be surprised if I run out of pieces," said the 34-year-old.

He has spent the last two-and-a-half-months making effigies along with his wife and sister.

The business, said most artisans and vendors, has indeed picked up this festive season after the dismal pandemic years and concerns over increasing levels of pollution and the ban on crackers that kept many buyers away.

The ‘headcount’ has gone up visibly with colourful Ravana heads in yellows, pinks, greens and blues spotted from a distance.

"The effigy business had taken a serious hit. But this time it is different. There is a craze among people for Dussehra. And we, the painters, are also getting good work. I have painted 60 plus faces and counting," said Monu, busy pasting glossy glistening teeth on Ravana's face.

He makes anywhere between Rs 200-500 per face.

Most of the artisans are daily wage labourers from Rajasthan, Haryana and Bihar who come to the capital to make an extra buck or more.

They make sure to add in some humour and contemporary context too.

Many Ravana moustaches have something written on them -- from movie titles "Don No 1", "Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron" to quirky one liners like "500 Tola" and "Jhukega Nahi".

It’s also their way of remembering issues that have gripped the nation.

"I wanted to write 'Kolkata ki beti ko insaf do' on one of the Ravanas. Because those behind the brutal assault and rape are also Ravana only. In fact, they are worse," said 74-year-old Mahendra Pal while referring to the rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital.

The veteran, who has been in the trade for almost 50 years, said things have indeed looked up since the pandemic but he is also old enough to remember the days when his works would be delivered across the world, including to the United States, Canada, Japan and South Africa.

Like many old-timers, he said he would once make 60-100 pieces but manages only 20-30 now.

"Everything, from labour to material, has become expensive now. There is hardly any profit for us to take home. To give you an example, earlier, we would make a profit of almost Rs 800 per effigy but now even saving Rs 500 from a piece is a huge thing," he rued.

That is of scant concern to the new effigy maker on block, Rathore, who gleefully displays his wares and enjoys the attention coming his way from bloggers, curious customers and media.

Even a Rs 15,000 profit, which the first-timer is confident he will make, will do the job for him.

He has only one request to customers: "Please don't bargain, it's a lot of hard work. Rs 100-200 won't make much difference in your life. But for my children, it would be a new toy, a box of sweets or a dress for the festive occasion."