aninditaacharyatimesgroupcomchandigarh with less than two weeks left for durga puja the biggest festival of the bengalis one can only imagine how busy the potters and artisans of kumartuli the hub of durga idol making in kolkata are at present thousands of idols travel to different parts of the world from this north kolkata workshopback home in chandigarh there might not be as many idol makers but one step inside kalibari in industrial area phase ii and you will surely be transported to kumartuli the smell of wet clay fills the air and you know durga puja is just round the corneraround 11 artisans led by kokhon adhikari are working round the clock at this makeshift workstation giving their finishing touches to the clay models of the goddess which will also be travelling to faroff placeswhile one artisan is busy applying clay over a bamboo structure mixed with straw needed to support the idol another idol maker gives shape to durgas fingers at one corner clay heads of durga are kept in a row to drya team of artisans arrives from kolkata to chandigarh around june every year and for the next four months this place crammed with clay idols bamboo frameworks and mud becomes their home where they give shape to nearly 70 durga idolsfrom kalibari durga idol travels to various places of punjab haryana himachal pradesh and even ladakh besides for tricity events we make idols which go to kullu kalka kangra adampur jammu patiala and ambala said kokhondurga idol made in kalibari also goes to an army camp in ladakh kokhon who has been associated with the business for 22 years now in chandigarh said our durga idols have been going to ladakh for 10 years now this year the goldencoloured idol is 35ft tallthough most of the soil required to make these idols are procured from various places of punjab kokhon informed that he brings the ganga mati soil needed to give the finishing touches to the goddess from kolkatakolkatabased artisan nepal naskar has been making durga idols in kalibari for the past 27 years now artisan suraj pramanik a resident of mathurapur in west bengal said i have been making idols at kalibari for the past 20 years we make durga idols ranging from 6 inches to 25 feetpresident of kalibari chandigarh nilkantha das said 90 of durga idols in punjab haryana and himachal go from kalibari its been going to ladakh for years nowpradeep das who is in charge of a workstation in vaishno mata mandir chandigarh has a team of 5 kolkatabased artisans apart from sending idols to various pandal across tricity their idols also travel to kashmir badrinath and patialaour durga pratima has been going to an army camp in patiala for the last 20 years this year too we are making a 12ft idol for the camp said dasadjacent to kalibari is model satyanarayan society another workstation which specializes in clay idol making gobardhan adhikari had been making durga idols in chandigarh