HYDERABAD: He calls his craft ‘inborn’, refusing to put a date on his career.Making idols for the festive season, the septuagenarian maintains a day job as a chief artist at the Marble Palace in Kolkata, a mansion which houses a large number of artworks.“They (the youth) do not want to remain connected to the clay and soil,” regrets Badal Chandra Paul as the art-form seems to attract few youngsters.The sixth generation idol-maker was in the city to give finishing touches to the idol of Goddess Durga at the Hyderabad Bangalee Samity, Domalguda.Hailing from the famed artisan village of Kumortuli region in West Bengal, Badal Chandra Paul was the first in his family to get a formal training in arts.Graduating in Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Indian College of Arts and Draftsmanship, Kolkata in 1960 has helped him maintain a steady job, unlike other artisans who barely manage to make their ends meet.“A lot of effort goes into making an idol for Durga puja. Not every year is the same and many a time, we are paid less than what we should. The decoration costs too have increased over the years. Though there is a lot of respect for the profession, it is not very profitable,” explains Badal Chandra Paul.The idols crafted by him have won him accolades and awards at the regional level.The process of crafting a clay idol is done in multiple stages and requires an array of raw materials.“Three varieties of clay, paddy husk, bamboo, coir, wood, and other materials are required to create these life-size idols. The one here, took me eight days to complete as three of us worked round-the-clock,” says Badal Chandra.Every year he manages to make around 40 idols and his fibre-glass idols have also been exported to the UK and the US.Badal Chandra has been crafting the idol for the Hyderabad-based puja for the past three years.
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