Durga Puja potters at 60% of pre-Covid business; guess who's the culprit!

Bharti Prajapati is giving the final touch to the face of the Durga idol, hands meshed in sand and clay in her rented space. She was a homemaker looking after her four children till the pandemic happened. Her husband’s death because of Covid-19 changed her life -- and her livelihood.

“It was difficult to step out, and learn the vocabulary of idol-making. I never knew how tough it was till I actually got drowned in it.”

Prajapati’s two sons also assist her.

“The business graph has not picked up since the lockdown. During the Covid pandemic, many people started using social media especially, YouTube for making small clay idols at home. The trend continues but this has hit our business.”

The family rents the space for four months to make the idols. Post Durga Puja, they carry out their business from home. This year they have made around 12 idols, all ordered in advance.

“We cannot take risk this year. More than 12 of our idols were not sold last year.”

Bharti starts working at 10 am and she goes home in the wee hours at 3 am.

“We have a strict deadline to meet and there is so much of competition.”

For these potters, the three months prior to Diwali is the most robust business season.

Sitting in another rented area, far much bigger is the ‘karkhana’ (workplace) of Ashok Prajapati. His 23-year-old son Aviraj handles the business. Ashok’s wife Laxmi Prajapati has also joined in. The sprawling rented area, dressed up with idols of various dimensions, is seething with heat. The room with a temporary ceiling has several rows of half-prepared idols. One corner of the ‘karkhana’ is allotted for cooking meals for the 20-odd employees.

“This is not a good time for us. We have traditionally been potters but now people of other communities are also foraying into this business simply by watching videos on mobile. The raw materials are also expensive. This has taken a financial toll but what else can we do?” says Laxmi while deftly putting the clay in the mould for making the hands of the idol.

65-year-old Kishan Lal, who has been in the pottery business since he was 10-year-old, has weathered various kinds of business fluctuations.

“There was a time when our business was flourishing. We used to get orders well in advance. But now with social media, anyone can make it anywhere. It is only the big idols that can be made by a professional and this is what that has kept our business going.”

The labyrinth lane that leads to Kishan Lal’s ‘workhouse’ is also a major impediment. “It is extremely difficult for the customers to reach here. My business graph has nosedived. But I can’t leave my ancestral property and move out.”

Vikas Prajapati who took up the business at the age of 15 agrees that social media has played a havoc for their business.

“The pandemic brought our business to a stand still. There has been a nearly 60 percent recovery since then. But there is a still of lot that needs to be done because there are many people from other community who are doing this now. This has flooded the market with makers of idols, some of whom are not even skilled .”

But does he ever think on moving to a different terrain?

“No, this thought can never come to me. If I abandon my family business, who will take it forward,” he says, while giving the final touch to the 8 ft Devi idol.