KOLKATA’S PUJA CAMPAIGN IN SILIGURI

By Swarnali Goswami (TNI Kolkata) & D. Prasun (TNI Siliguri) ~ Edited By R. Subrata (TNI Siliguri)

Webdesk, TNI Kolkata/Siliguri, 21st August, 2015: For more than a month Siliguri was wrapped with the unveiling advertising with a message “Ato Boro Satti”. Curiosity loomed large with speculations about the advertising campaign. People were confused and many of them thought that it was a normal Durga Puja Advertisement from a telecom company. However, it was revealed yesterday as the President of Kolkata’s Deshopriyo Park Durgotsav Committee declared the campaign was none other than that of Star Cement who are sponsoring this year’s Deshopriyo Park Durga Puja. Mr. Chatterjee also declared that probably this year the Durgapuja would be the World’s Largest Durga Idol this year. However, the club officials didn’t divulge the proposed height of the idol. Only they have said the height of the Durga face itself is 12 ft.

Mr. Chatterjee had all praises for Mr. Sanjay Kumar Gupta, CEO of Star Cement for this Puja partnership. The unveiling and declaration were attended by Bengali Actress Subhashree and the Kolkata MIC Debasish Kumar. On the other hand for the Siligurians it became as a “Grapes are grapes, which cannot be reached” story. Over the years the glamour and fun fare of Durga puja have decreased due to the reduction in puja budgets of various puja committees. This has been due to the reduction in sponsorships from the corporate houses, the absence of major corporate partners and moreover because of unstructured promotions, less involvement of younger organizers, retiring of older generations in puja organizing etc. For the Siligurians, there may be an appropriate sentence in Bengali “Aasche Bochor Jodi Kichu Hoi” (Let’s hope for something, in the next year).