Durga Puja 2022: Silicon Durga Maa idols depicting lives of sex workers

Durga Pujo is incomplete without its pandals and every year a new pandal theme is introduced. This year a viral pandal theme is seen in Kolkata with 'Life of a Sex worker'. Find out more.

Pic: ANI

Durga Puja 2022: Durga Puja celebrations have begun, a festival enjoyed not just by the Bengali community but by the entire nation. The air is filled with excitement and pure divine energy and celebrations going till the early hours of the morning. And there is no place than the city of joy- Kolkata to experience this unrestrictive vigour. 

Kolkata is decked up with beautiful lighting and majestic pandals. This year a very innovative pandal depicting the lives of sex workers has come up in the joyful Kolkata. The Nawpara Dadabhai Sangh Puja Committee has set up a pandal that depicts the lives of sex workers, the society they live in, and how people see them. Shatrughan Sinha, an actor and Lok Sabha MP, inaugurated this pandal on Monday.

Silicon idols of Maa Durga

The idols in this pandal are made of silicon which is a new concept because idols are usually made of clay and straw. The idols and the pandal depict the broader idea of 'Parichai'(identity) in lieu of the society the sex workers live in, the way people see them, and how they are often subjected to remain anonymous without an identity.

The idols have been given a form of a mother wearing a traditional Lal-par saree with open hair and with a baby in her lap to show how a sex worker can be many things, among which she can also be a powerful mother. 

West Bengal | Durga Puja pandal of Nawpara Dadabhai Sangh Puja Committee in Kolkata comes up with a unique theme 'Parichai' (Identity). This pandal depicts the life of sex workers, the kind of society they live in and the way society looks at them. pic.twitter.com/F7GcxyD3k0 — ANI (@ANI) September 26, 2022

Pandal theme

The theme of this year's pandal is 'Parichai' which translates to identity where individuals who work as sex workers are disregarded and always looked down upon.

Pujo traditions

While society despises the community of sex workers and their means of livelihood, Bengali custom dictates that the soil taken from a sex worker's home is one of the most crucial components in the making of Maa Durga idols. The soil from the nishiddho palli (forbidden streets) is referred to as "punyomati," which is auspicious or pure soil.

The aim of setting up this pandal with this particular theme was to spread awareness in favour of the sex worker community and show the world that a sex worker is just like you and me with similar roles but with unconventional job.