Kolkata heralds Durga Puja with longest floor art

Tuesday started much earlier for people across West Bengal than other days of the year,  courtesy the airing of the eight decade-old ‘Mahisasura Mardini’ programme on the radio at the break of dawn, ushering in the annual autumn festival of Durga Puja.

And for Kolkatans it was a double bonanza. Along with the baritone voice of Birendra Krishna Bhadra chanting the ‘Chandipath’ on the air waves, the city woke up to a pleasant surprise — a gorgeous piece of street art, which has been touted as India’s longest alpana, a Bengali form of floor art, created along a stretch of around 2 km at Lake Road near Rash Behari Avenue in south Kolkata. Samaj Sebi Sangha, a popular community Durga Puja organiser at Lake Road had joined hands with a fashion retail brand to offer this unique experience to Kolkatans.

“It was such a wonderful sight. It was like a riot of colours on the black bitumen surface of the road with flowers, leaves, butterflies, intricate designs and other forms coming to life. It was as if the artists had let their creative minds flow all through the night to create such a spectacular alpana,” said Swati Basu, a resident of Lake Road.

Around 200 art students from various art colleges across the city congregated at Lake Road with paint and brushes to create the alpana, which Samaj Sebi Sangha organisers feel will be a major crowd-puller for their Puja this year.