New Parliament building, palace among pandal themes this Durga Puja in Delhi

New Delhi: From the new Parliament building to the revered Mundeshwari Devi Temple, Durga Puja pandals in the national capital this year are depicting a wide array of themes with the celebrations expected to reach the pre-pandemic pomp.

In Chittaranjan Park, which has a sizeable Bengali population, a puja pandal will be a replica of the newly inaugurated Parliament building. The decorations inside the pandal include 3D pictures of freedom fighters and national emblems.

The Mela Ground of C R Park will have a Buddha-themed pandal this year while that at the K Block Park will be a replica of the Mundeshwari Devi Temple in Bihar.

The organisers of the puja at the Ghaziabad grocery market ground said their pandal will be themed on a forest.

The owner of an idol-making shop in Chittaranjan Park, Govind Nath, said the preparations for Durga Puja is happening in full swing just like the pre-COVID-19 times.

"This time the preparations for Durga Puja is happening in full swing as it used to happen in pre-COVID times. Most people who have given orders had specifications about the idols which means they are ready to spend more this time," Nath told PTI.

"We received one interesting idol order this year. It is a Buddha themed Durga idol, seven feet tall," he added.

Nath said that a total of 12 artisans are working at his establishment at the Kali temple and that they received order for 40 idols this time.

Last year, Nath had told PTI that they received order for barely 20 to 25 idols for Durga Puja.

He further stated that while some of the artisans will go back home to West Bengal, others will stay back as they have started receiving orders for Kali puja (Diwali) as well.

"Some of the artisans will go back home to West Bengal for celebrating puja with their family but many of them will also stay back since we already started receiving orders for Kali puja (Diwali)," he said.

Speaking about the last leg of idol-making process ahead of the celebrations, one of the artisans at C R park, Tapan Biswas, said that they have been working 15 hours a day.

"When we started working on idols, we used to work eight hours a day. For the last two weeks, we have been working at least 12 to 15 hours a day. Rains caused some disruptions in our work in the month of July when we began making the idols. However, since the weather has been dry and sunny mostly, the work is going fine now," Biswas told PTI.

Durga puja celebrations will begin from October 20 and will conclude on October 24.

Speaking about the various themes of puja pandals, Pankaj Purkaith, a pandal maker in C R Park, said that there is more enthusiasm amongst workers when they receive orders of interesting themes.

"There is more enthusiasm to work when we get interesting themes. For example, we are making this Central Vista-themed puja pandal in Chittaranjan Park's B Block. The Kali mandir in K Block will have a 'Rajbari' (palace) themed pandal this year. This time we have taken orders for 10 pandals and workers are a little stressed out as we have to finish the work in a week," Purkaith told PTI.

"For theme-based pandals, it takes at least two months. A total of 80 to 90 pandal makers are working day and night to complete the work on time," he added.