Stories
The stark contrast of Durga Puja for those struggling on the streets
- •A tired young seamstress navigates a crowded bus, bearing the burdens of poverty amidst festive celebrations.
- •Middle-class families travel to Kolkata with simple dreams to witness the grandeur of Durga Puja pandals.
- •A coconut vendor and marginalized workers see the festival only as a time for increased physical labor and survival.
- •For the homeless and destitute, the streets serve as their only address and the festival passes by like any other struggle.
Key Questions Answered
While festive crowds celebrate with new clothes and pandal hopping, marginalized people and street vendors experience Durga Puja primarily on the streets. For them, the festive days bring hard labor, such as selling water coconuts to higher sales, while poverty and daily struggles continue unchanged.
Male woodcraft artisans from Natungram leave their homes after Mahalaya to travel to Kolkata to sell handmade wooden dolls, handicrafts, and furniture at fairs and pandals. Because of this seasonal migration for income, they spend the festival away from their families, returning only by Dashami.
Ahead of Durga Puja, rural women in Khargram block are earning substantial incomes by working day and night to craft handmade stone and beaded fashion bags. Supported by local self-help departments, these women sell their creations at various fairs and markets to achieve financial self-reliance.
