Underprivileged kids using recycled waste material to make Durga pandal in UP capital

The Goddess Durga idol in the pandal will also reflect the image of freedom fighter Rani Laxmi Bai giving a strong message of women empowerment

Durga puja pandals on various themes are ready to shine here and likely to attract devotees in large numbers. While some have kept it traditional, others went off the beat to give out a social message. One such pandal is coming up at Vikas Nagar, Sector-9, with its double theme moving around “recycle and reuse” and “women empowerment”.

Underprivileged children using waste material to make a Durga puja pandal in Vikas Nagar in Lucknow. (Deepak Gupta/HT)

This time, the organisers are using newspaper waste, unused bottles, tin and iron, old sarees, balls, glass bottles and other unused house hold items for decoration. What is even more special is that a group of underprivileged school-going children is involved in the making process while using their handicraft skills which they are taught in a free school run by the Bal Shashwat Foundation run by Sumit Bhowmick. Children can be seen making birds and cages from newspapers, painting tin and tyres to make a unique pandal in the city.

The Goddess Durga idol in the pandal will also reflect the image of freedom fighter Rani Laxmi Bai giving a strong message of women empowerment. A group of four “Dhakis” (traidtional drummers) has been called from Bolpur, Shantiniketan, West Bengal, who will beat drums from morning to evening.

“This year, we are also organising Kumari Puja, a rare event in Lucknow, in which girls aged from one to sixteen, representing the goddess, are worshipped in front of the idol of Goddess Durga,” said Mritunjoy Mukherjee, secretary, Shashwat social and cultural club, Vikas Nagar.