Kolkata: Persistent rain over the past few days has left idol makers in Kumartuli racing against time, with the countdown to Durga Puja entering a crucial phase of the idol-making process.




With the festival a little over three weeks away and Mahalaya falling in the second week of Oct, the artisans and idol makers are under pressure to give finishing touches to the idols and deliver them to Puja organisers on time. But the wet weather has disrupted the drying process, delaying work at a stage when idol makers would normally be moving towards painting and finishing the idols. A visit to Kumartuli on Thursday offered a glimpse of the disruption.




Unfinished idols were stacked around the corners of the workshops. They stood covered with plastic sheets. The idol-making hub fell silent of the usual bustle of craftsmanship. Even at this crucial stage ahead of the festivities, many artisans were inside their homes and workshops, waiting for the rains to halt. This hindrance to their work is acute, considering the necessity for the idols to get dry. Only then can begin the painting process. The repeated rain has kept the artisans hindered from having been able to complete shaping up the mud into idols.




“It has been raining almost every day since Ganesh Puja, keeping us behind schedule. There have been very few spells of dry weather. I have to deliver the idols before Mahalaya, but I am afraid I might not be able to do so,” said China Pal , a woman idol maker at Kumartuli. For larger idols, the challenge is even greater.




Much of the work has to be done in the open. Artisans have been repeatedly covering and uncovering the idols depending on the weather, losing valuable work hours each time it rains.




“Most of the idols are big and have to be kept in the open while we work on them. As soon as we remove the covers, it starts to pour and we have to cover them again. We are hardly getting any time to work on the idols because of the weather,” said Kartik Pal, another idol maker and secretary of the idol makers’ cooperative in Kumartuli.




With natural drying becoming difficult, some artisans are turning to pedestal fans and blow torches to speed up the drying process. But they say these are only temporary solutions, adding to the expenses. “It is a temporary measure that we cannot resort to for long,” said Sushanta Pal, another idol maker.




The pressure is heightened by the delivery schedule. Many Puja organisers take their idols before Mahalaya so that finishing touches can be carried out inside the pandals. With several days of work already lost to rain, idol makers fear that any further disruption could leave them with little time to complete the orders.