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Kolkata sculptors join e-selling bandwagon

Kolkata: Working out of their tiny tents in the dingy by-lanes of north Kolkata, potters of Kumartuli are now banking upon the Internet to reach out to the overseas clients.

E-selling of idols of Goddess Durga is catching up with a few doing brisk business through the world wide web. Earlier, organisers of Durga Puja abroad had to come down personally or contact the sculptors through relatives or intermediaries in the city.

“But now with our website, we easily sell our products to buyers settled abroad. They just log on to the website, see the catalogue posted there and e-mail us their requirement. We then deliver the idol at a place of their choice,” said Pradyut Pal, for whom sculpting is a family trade.

Pradyut looks after marketing while his uncle Gopal Paul, cousins and brothers make the idols. “And the best part is that the middleman is eliminated as buyers contact us directly. This makes us more independent and gives us a better margin,” he added.

With the Bengali community residing in various parts of the world, including the US, UK, Europe and South-East Asia, local artisans are leaving no stone unturned to cash in on the Internet.

Few years ago, steel baron L. N. Mittal had reportedly sponsored an idol of Ramesh Pal, including its transportation from Kumartuli to London, for a Puja organiser there. --PTI

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