Kumartuli: A timeless concoction of traditions & contradictions

As the lanes of Kumartuli prepare for another season of Durga Puja, the centuries-old neighbourhood of idol-makers remains both indispensable and precarious.

- RUDRANI CHATTERJEE & TAPAJA CHAKRABORTY

For the artisans, who are at the heart of the city's most-celebrated festival, commercial sustenance has always been a concern. Yet in recent years, exports of fibre idols have carved out a rare lifeline.

"We were never in a good space commercially, and we still aren't," admits Babu Pal, joint secretary of the Kumartuli Mrit Shilpi Samiti. But he is quick to note a silver lining: the export market.

"While traditional clay idols, because of their weight and fragility, cannot travel overseas, lighter versions made of fibre or expanded polystyrene (EPS) or thermocol, are finding their way to the UK, Canada, the USA and beyond," says artisan Ruby Dey, pointing to the quiet shift that has allowed Kumartuli's craft to cross borders.