"Look, who's taking my photo."

The title is given on the sarcastic comment made by the kumor[কুমোর](our regional name for the artisan of the clay idols) while I was trying to take a snap of him, busy at work.

The row of idols as seen in the photograph are effigies of Devi Durga, the goddess of power and prowess, imagined in various styles and outfits. The goddess symbolises the worship of feminine strength in it's extreme form. The clay idols are created every year by kumors and distributed to pandals (temporary buildings and constructions made of thermocol, glass, ply wood, etc. to welcome the goddess during her five days of stay on Earth during which the entire city is lit up in happiness and the Durga Puja Celebration is held). What amazes me is that this kumor, just like any other never gets tired or disgusted at all although he knows that his idols will be immersed in the sacred Ganges after the worship on the fifth day in order to maintain the procedure of rituals.

This art has been practiced in Bengal over the years by kumors who are specialized in this job, mostly inherited from a long line of ancestors who were kumors. And Kolkata is renowned for the amount of creativity given to this art by our kumors.
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