kumartuli

The human soul is on its journey from the law to love, from discipline to liberation, from the moral plane to the spiritual. Buddha preached the discipline of self-restraint and moral life; it is a complete acceptance of law. But this bondage of law cannot be an end by itself; by mastering it thoroughly we acquire the means of getting beyond it. It is going back to Brahma, to the infinite love, which is manifesting itself through the finite forms of law
Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life

Maybe that’s what’s great about Kolkata: the sheer vitality of life. Even if it’s a life that would shock a lot of the world. There are lessons to be learnt here.

You will find such pride even in the little alleyways of Kumartuli, where hundreds of idols stand in various stages of completion, spilling out into the open sunlight from the dingy recesses of innumerable little ramshackle workshops. Indrajeet and Bholanath Das are two brothers who continue their father’s work, making statues and keeping Dhirendra Studio alive.

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