KOLKATA, INDIA, August 12, 2005: Kolkata’s new generation sculptors are adapting new methods to explore foreign markets through the Internet to cater to a growing demand for Durga icons by Indians living abroad during Durga festivals. Websites detailing varying sizes and styles of Durga icons beckon Bengali associations from across the globe. There is a considerable number of Bengali non-resident Indians (NRIs) in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and Switzerland who celebrate Durga Puja which falls in October-November. These NRI Bengali communities have become the focus-group for the new generation of icon-makers. “We are spreading our work through e-mail, creating web sites and creating geo-cities. We contact different organizations through the internet and invite them to come to chatting messengers so that we can have a chat or voice or web chat with them. By this, we evaluate if a client is really interested. Then we send them our quotations and they approve and after that we start working,” says Pradyup Kumar Pal whose family has been in the business of making Durga icons for three generations.
Pradyut and his brother Bidyut installed a computer in their studio three years ago and have since successfully been approaching several Bengali Committees abroad. They work from a small office in Kumhartuli, a settlement in northern Kolkata known for its exquisite work in making icons. There are several more artisans in Kumhartuli who are now exporting Durga icons to many foreign countries including the US and UK. To minimize freight charges and facilitate easy-handling, icons are kept lightweight. “Abroad, lightweight icons are preferred. In India, the icons are huge and we have good transportation facilities along with porters to carry along the bulky icons. In abroad, it is an entire different ball-game. It is for this reason they want lighter icons. They are also interested in golden icons of the Goddess and fiberglass, paper pulp and take interest in traditional mud icons,” says Bidyut Kumar Pal.