Paridhi

Faith Pays Paridhi

October 2010
Page 6
October 2010
Page 3 SPIRIT OF GBO
It's no secret that millions of rupees are spent during the major festivals in India.
Often it's criticized that it's blasphemous to spend so much money in a poor
country like us for things of entertainment and fun. People tend to point out that
such huge amount of money be better spent on other more constructive things
like health and education. Yes, there's no debate on the point whether we need
more expenses on education and health care. We know very well that effective
spending in health and education has to be done by the governments. The NGOs
and the private parties can't cover the length and breadth of such a big country
like India. The huge amounts of money that are spent in the Indian festivals don't
come from the government's fund. People may argue that much of the black
money is also spent in such events. But then that money won't have gone to
government anyway. So even if this huge amount of money is not spent in the
festivals our governments won't have spent more amounts for health care and
education. On the contrary this huge expenditure that India does on these
gallery
festivals is actually a direct channel through which a large amount of money
reaches the relatively financially weaker sections of the society very fast from the
comparatively richer people. I don't see any other channel through which money
River of Ambrosia
can change hands so fast from the rich to poor in so less time. So from that point of Unseen, by eyes of mortal men,
view, these festivals – which are manifestations of our devotions, actually pay off In realms, beyond our ken,
in distributing wealth in otherwise financially skewed society. Are folk, the like of which, we've never viewed,
Who live, in secret, solitude,
inseparable part of the festivities in Bengal. You can't
Faeries, elves, dwarves, and gnomes,
There are some realistic estimates of the amount that may imagine a Durga Puja without the sounds of the dhaak beat.
Under wise old trees,
be spent during Durga Puja just in Calcutta by the various The people who play these instruments are surely as
And under stones,
clubs that organize the Pujas. This expenditure doesn't declining as the Royal Bengal Tigers. Lack of proper
Play, gaily amongst the leaves,
include any of the spending that the people do in terms of opportunity is killing these people who have been
buying new clothes. A very pessimistic estimate would arrive playingdhak for centuries. If it's not for the Durga Puja, they
at a figure of $250million. An optimistic estimate can very would have been a Dodo by now. This place, not tarnished, by the likes of men,
well reach close to $1billion for greater Calcutta. For the time Finally, Durga Puja is also a cultural festival. Almost all the Filled, with charm and grace,
being we can stick to this figure of $1billion. It's true that a big Pujas have back-to-back cultural programs for all the four or Since ancient times, a home to them,
chunk of this amount may be black money spent by five days. These give opportunity to many artistes from Bound in magical, embrace,
politicians or local 'dadas' (the Bong equivalents of the Bhais various fields of performing arts. Even the highest paid singers
of Bombay) who patronize many of these Pujas. That in Calcutta await these few days of Durga Puja for a good The river, of ambrosia flows,
shouldn't bother us because at least the money is coming remuneration. There are many artistes who may hope to get To nurture, all those here,
out into the Indian economy rather than being stashed some work only during Durga Puja. Their numbers may not be Its water, sparkling, glows
away in Swiss Banks. huge, but still Durga Puja plays a critical role in patronizing art Pure, and crystal clear,
Now let's see how this $1billion is being spent and where the – something that has been in a phase of decline since the
money is actually flowing. The first name that comes to my death of royalties in India. Protected, by this river bright,
mind is Kumortuli – the traditional Bengali name for the place A very crude estimate says that there may be roughly 5000 These, creatures, know no fear,
where the idols are made by highly skilled people who have Durga Pujas in Calcutta. Even by the most pessimistic They sing and dance, throughout the night,
been doing this job for generations. Without creating the estimate, each Puja requires the involvement of at least 20 Within, this realm, held dear.
idols all these people would have had absolutely no other people for at least a month. This means Durga Puja in By Ravinder Bairagi
job, because the only thing that they know is to create these Calcutta creates employment for at least 100K people
highly artistic idols. This form of folk art is one of the few belonging to 100K households, which translates into at least
surviving old arts in India. Even if the number of people 600K people - a better estimate may put this figure close to a
involved in this occupation is not something big compared million (160K households), which is almost 10% of the
to the 1.2 billion people of India, still it's not very insignificant population of Calcutta. This figure doesn't include the many
also. More over from the cultural point of view it's very more thousands of the vendors that put up temporary shops
important to preserve the heritage of any form of art. A good outside the pandals and even thousands more people
portion of this $1billion goes to these sculptors. involved in the industries (mainly cottage and small scale)
Next comes the thousands of laborers who get that supply the raw materials for putting up the pandals and
employment for close to 100 days just for putting up the setting up all other logistics involved. Taking the example of
pandals. Employment for 100 days for something one Durga Puja in Bangalore where I'm personally involved, I
constructive is something that even the National Rural can say that out of the estimated $1billion spent in Calcutta,
Employment Guarantee Scheme fails to provide in many close to 60-70% actually goes towards the wages of the
cases. I'm not aware of anything else where people pull in people (estimated at 150K – belonging to 150K households
money to create guaranteed employment for so many of 1million people) directly working for the Pujas and buying
people. You have to just see the creations of these people to raw materials, and 30-40% goes for cultural programs and
believe what's the level of skills and creativities they have. entertainment – which in turn impact many thousands of
Undoubtedly the pandals created during Durga Puja are households which are not that easy to estimate.
folk art, technology and creativity at their zenith. Had it not been for the Puja, almost this entire amount of
Then there are the people involved in setting up the $1billion would have been either not spent at all or spent for
fabulous lighting. People who have seen the Durga Puja in something else which would have taken much longer to
Kolkata and around would know how fantastic and terrific percolate to these 1million people. For example, say you
the lighting is. There also a huge number of people are pay Rs.1000 towards a particular Puja. Had there not been
involved who don't have much to do otherwise throughout this Puja then you would have either saved this money or
the year. Each of them has some specific skill which can be spent on eating out or buying some CDs, or watching a
exploited to its maximum only during the Durga Puja. movie or just chilling out in a pub. In all these cases also your
The millions of people who throng the various Puja venues 1000 bucks would have percolated to few of these 1 million
are catered to by few thousands of small time vendors who people, but off course not at the rate at which it does in the
sell snacks, handicrafts etc. Never ever do they get so many case of Durga Puja.
customers. They wait for this period of the year for the most By Deepak Singh (DIAS)
brisk business.
Dhak, a form of drum (dhol), very specific to Bengal, is an