KOLKATA: Two “special” reasons have added to the excitement around Durga Puja this year: celebration after two years of restricted festivity amid the Cavid pandemic and the intangible heritage tag bestowed by Unesco.
Inaugurations of various pujas started early and revellers also started their pandal-hopping right from Dwitiya, ticking off their lists of innovative themes and idols. The list of the 16th edition of Times Sharad Shrestha 2022 has been declared. The community pujas of Kolkata, which registered with The Times of India, were judged on various parameters, such as the Best Puja, Best Theme, Best Idol, Safe Puja and Shera Dhaki.
The Best Puja accolade went to Chetla Agrani Club, while Tridhara Akalbodhan bagged the honours in the Best Theme category. According to the judges, Tala Prattoy had the Best Idol. The Safe Puja category had four winners: Kasi Bose Lane Durga Puja Samity, Jagat Mukherjee Park, Santoshpur Lake Pally and Dum Dum Park Bharat Chakra Club. Suruchi Sangha has won the Shera Dhaki award.
A Times of India initiative, Times Sharad Shrestha recognizes the efforts that community puja committees put in to magically transform the city into a gallery of installation art that enthrals millions, from here and abroad.
The process, which began a few days ago, involved senior art college students judging the initial rounds before a panel of judges took over for the final round. Taking time out of their hectic schedules, the judges went around the pandals on Panchami to choose the best in each category. The panel included Rana Dasgupta, CEO (eastern region), Apollo Multispeciality Hospitals, with Karabi Dasgupta; Joita Sen, director, Senco Gold and Diamonds; Pranay Poddar, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Kenya in Kolkata; Harish Agarwal, managing partner, EY with Anita Agarwal; Saikat Chakraborty, zonal sales manager, Shubhojeet Roy, assistant customer marketing manager, Soumyadeb Mukherjee, assistant sales manager, Beam Global Spirits and Wine India (P) Ltd; Alok Chattopadhyay, deputy director and advisor, finance and accounts, ICC and Madhuparna Bhowmick, director, ICC; Tamal Mukherjee, advocate, Chief Prosecutor City Sessions Court, Bankshall, and actors Tnusree Chakraborty, Souraseni Maitra, Lahoma Bhattacharya and Ushashi Ray.
Times Sharad Shrestha 2022 was presented by Ayurvedic Gasofast and powered by Apollo Multispeciality Hospitals. The associate sponsor was Oaksmith Packaged Drinking Water. Safety Partner was ICC Calcutta Foundation while knowledge partner was The Bhawanipur Education Society College.
