As the 'City of Joy' prepares for this year's Kali Puja, South Kolkata's Tollygunge Chatra Sangha, a 63-year-old puja committee, inspires everyone with a revolutionary theme that combines culture and inclusivity. This year's Kali Puja theme has been named 'Alo' (light), which pays tribute to the visually impaired.
Where most of the pandals are for visually experiencing the art and visitors are usually advised not to touch the artwork, Tollygunge Chatra Sangha's pandal has added an extra layer to experience this year's pandal.
Inspired by artist Bibhas Mukherjee's vision, this year's pandal seeks to redefine light and its role in sight. They have tried to portray how light is not just limited to the visible range. With the partially lit-up theme, artist Mukherjee has portrayed how the inability to see does not make a difference and how light reaches to all corners of society.
According to a Bhaskar English report, artist Bibhas Mukherjee has stated, “The visually impaired are not different from us — they experience the world differently, and that doesn’t make them any less.”
This year's Kali Puja pandal has been decorated with artworks that can not only be experienced through the eyes but can also be felt through touch. All the artworks are embedded with braille for the visually impaired people to experience and take inspiration from. This unconventional theme has sent a welcoming message to people of all stages in society.
This inclusive initiative has made this year's theme not only a visual but also a sensory experience through touching the artworks, designed in combination with sound, trying to develop awareness through a masterpiece. The theme also focuses on visual impairment, but not as an inability, but as a unique way of perceiving everything.
