CUTTACK: The glittering light works at the pandals dazzle the puja revellers soaked in the festive spirit. Besides, the intricate silver and zari backdrops, the theme-based gateways add to the vibrancy of the festival. This year, excellent light designs have come up in every corner of the City. While the Sheikh Bazaar puja committee has put up an Indigenous version of the Statue of Liberty which stands tall at 50 feet, at Haripur, a 60-foot tower of Japan dwarfs everything around.Similarly, the Shikharpur puja committee has erected a 48-foot electric gate of the Shanti Stupa in Dhauli. The one at Link Road is 50 feet high and represents the Puri temple.A majority of these light designs here are the creations of a handful of artists from Chandan Nagar in West Bengal."Works on the Statue of Liberty started two months back and Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh has been spent on it,” said Rabindra Kumar Ray, the Sheikh Bazaar-based chief artisan who designed the arc.He said the main design of the arc was done by seven artisans of Chandan Nagar who came to Cuttack two months ahead of the puja.“After the design is ready on the board, colourful LED bulbs are fitted onto it as per the layout,” he said, adding that an artist usually makes Rs 7,000 during the puja season.Ray and his team of seven artisans from Chandan Nagar have also created an Eiffel Tower, a smaller version of the Statue of Liberty and an arc representing Sri Krishna’s Chapa Khela at Jharpada in Bhubaneswar. The group has been making electric gates for the Sheikh Bazaar since 1991.Like Ray, another Cuttack-based artist Manoranjan Sahu has a group of 10 artisans from Chandan Nagar who have designed the Japan tower at Haripur at the cost of Rs 2 lakh.“We come to Cuttack during the month of June and design electric gates for Ganesh Puja, Durga Puja, Kali Puja and Laxmi Puja. This has been our livelihood for the last 15 years,” said Pritam Chakraborty, an artist with Sahu’s group. Specialists at making theme-based light designs, these Chandan Nagar artists are in great demand in Cuttack during the Durga Puja.Paresh Pal, another artist from the area, who worked at Sikharpur on the Shanti Stupa said, “We start work from the month of March and earn around Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 every year. This is our lone source of income.” Durga Puja is the time to rejoice and our joy is reflected through the brilliance of the lights in the city, Pal added.
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