Two organisations have come together to make autistic individuals participate in the Durga Puja celebrations by taking them around some of Kolkata’s well-known pandals before those sites begin to get crowded.
India Autism Center, in collaboration with MassArt, will give around 450 autistic individuals a tour of 24 pandals from September 18 to 22, shortly before the religious opening of West Bengal’s most famous festival. For the last several years now, especially after Durga Puja was included in UNESCO’s cultural heritage list in 2021, pandal hopping begins long before priests take their positions in the pandals.
With Durga Puja 45 days away, Kumartuli going through busiest time in year
These 24 pandals include popular puja locations such as Hatibagan, Kashi Bose Lane, Hindusthan Park, Tridhara Akalbodhon, Behala Friends, Barisha Club, 41 Pally, Santoshpur Lake Pally, Chaltabagan, and Naktala Udayan Sangha.
MassArt, a Kolkata-based initiative that encourages indigenous and contemporary art, is, in any case, using these 24 sites to promote pandal art before a sea of humanity descends on them, calling their effort, on social media, a “once-in-a-year chance to step behind the scenes, meet the artists, hear the stories, and witness the art, craftsmanship, and cultural narratives that make Durga Puja the world’s biggest public art festival.”
