Until a few days back, with Puja Pandals getting inaugurated from the very beginning of Navratri, Pandal hopping was still on the To-Do list of many Kolkatans. However, on 19th October the Calcutta High Court instructed all puja organizers to make Pandals a ‘No-Entry Zone’ with only the organizers and select few visitors allowed to enter the pandal. The pandals will also have to display the names of those allowed outside. 

This is in stark contrast with what the trend has been since the last few decades!

Every year Durga Puja starts with much fanfare in Kolkata. In the days and weeks preceding ‘Shashti’- the sixth day of Navratri, the day when Durga Puja begins in Kolkata, the city starts to witness a soaring crowd in every part of the city - be it traditional north Kolkata or the vibrant south Kolkata, the growing east Kolkata or the spectacular west Kolkata. From crowded shopping malls to over-burdened public transport, these are a few things that signify the arrival of Durga Puja in the city. What usually seems like an irritating spectre for many, turns out to be the cause of their most delightful experience!

However, this year Durga Puja is going to be completely different. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kolkata’s Durga Puja celebrations will not only see crowds dipping in comparison to previous years, but also have a different vibe altogether.  At the same time, puja organizers are going out of their usual ways to still make Puja accessible to all, courtesy by use of technology.

The Spirit of Kolkata’s Durga Puja

Kolkata City’s Durga Puja Celebrations is touted as the most extravagant event of the year. The creativity revolving around designing and constructing pandals is just amazing. Organizers of different puja committees come up with different themes and ideas in an attempt to outdo each other. From adorning the idols of deities’ with golden jewellery to using recyclable material to construct the pandals, each one turns out to be an excellent marquee for the visitors. 

Though the fanfare may be less, there is still a lot of excitement for Kolkatans.

Virtual Pandal Hopping

This time Kolkata will be introduced to a totally new concept of attending Pujas - ‘virtual pandal-hopping.’ Many big Puja organizers in the city like Santosh Mitra Square and Debdaru Fatak had already decided to stream the Puja rituals on YouTube and Social Media platforms. Now with the High Court’s directives, more puja organizers are thinking of doing this. 

Some Puja organizers will also be installing giant screens on the roads that lead to their pandals. This will help visitors watch the idols of deities and rituals happening inside the pandal. 

A few puja organizers have gone a step further by offering an opportunity to do a 360° virtual tour of the pandal on their websites.

Thanks to technology and efforts of puja organizers there are no reasons to worry as you will still get a chance to seek blessings of Maa Durga by doing a ‘virtual darshan!’ 

Fewer Visitors but more Views

Millions of city-dwellers set out on a pandal-hopping spree every year. The interesting activity also sees visitors from all different states of India. Not many know this but we also get visitors from international countries! 

According to Amsterdam based travel service Booking.com, in 2019 tourists from New Zealand, South Africa and Canada had visited Kolkata to enjoy the Durga Puja festival. These were not expats returning to the city for holidays but ‘real’ tourists who visited the city, exclusively to experience Durga Puja.

This year this seems to be a distant sight. Because of the pandemic and obvious safety reasons around it, international travellers would be sceptical about stepping into crowded city streets. 

So what does it mean for you? You will miss seeing Westerners walking down the city streets in Ethnic attire or trying to gulp the spicy street foods down their throat. A truly fascinating sight to see for every Kolkatans! 

But they can still do a virtual pandal hopping of their respective countries!

Pandals Become ‘No-Entry Zones’ but not ‘No-View Zones’

What this means is that you can still visit the premiere puja locations but you will not be allowed to enter inside the pandals. While this might come as a shock to people, who like every year wait to start their pandal hopping spree, the decision is in the best interest of citizens.

With a recent upsurge in the number of positive COVID-19 cases in the city, the crowd at malls and puja pandals will pose a major challenge for authorities to contain the spread of the virus. Constraints like limited space inside puja pandals will add to the problem. It could have been extremely difficult for puja organizers to ensure social distancing norms. The Calcutta High Court has obviously factored all this in before giving the directions.

To ensure devotees are not affected Durga Puja organizers have already taken steps to ensure unrestricted digital viewing of the Puja rituals. Some pandals have even placed idols at convenient locations to make it visible to people walking down the nearby roads. This will ensure the pandals get the views that they truly deserve!

What does this mean for Durga Puja Organizers?

The COVID-19 pandemic has made people utilize the best of technology. From increasing precedence of Work From Home (WFH) culture to virtual meetings, companies across industries have embraced digital technologies. This year, for puja organizers using technology will be a necessity but in the coming years, it could just transform into an opportunity to expand their audience.

Because of the growing popularity of Durga Puja on a global scale, more people are interested to understand what is the feel of the festivities. Puja organizers can encash on this opportunity by using live video streaming facilities. This will help them to reach out to people across different continents and provide a ‘Virtual Durga Puja’ experience to them. This will be great news for even those who cannot come to the city during Puja but will still get to enjoy the rituals from any location in the world. Thus, we foresee a time coming when Kolkata Durga Puja will become a lot bigger from what it is now and the charm of the City of Joy becoming more charming than ever attracting more global attention!