Kolkata, Oct 1 (PTI) As the five-day Durga Puja celebrations draw to a close, a committee in Kolkata has roped in a French artist to recreate the centuries-old ghats along the Bhagirathi river, while another has depicted the agonies of the 1943 Bengal famine.

At Hatibagan Sarbojanin, a popular Durga Puja destination in north Kolkata, French artist Thomas Henriot of Ecole des Beaux Arts de Besancon Institute, has crafted long artwork depicting ghats located alongside the river which symbolises the rich spiritualism and the flow of life.

Henriot said he came to the city during Durga Puja celebrations last year and was thrilled the way the entire city turns into an arts gallery for people of all sections.

"I am collaborating with theme artist Tapas Dutta and it has been an overwhelming experience since the pandal was opened for thousands of people around a week ago. I wish to come back again," he said.

In 2013, Pallimangal Samity had invited French artists Jean-Xavier Renaud and Gaelle Foray to work on a ‘Cannes to Kolkata’ theme celebrating Indian cinema, funded by Alliance Française du Bengale.

At the Hatibagan Sarbojanin pandal, Henriot and Dutta collaborated on a theme centred on the lost and surviving ghats of Kolkata, aiming to rekindle interest among the younger generation.

"Of the nearly 100 ghats that once existed along the river, only about one-fourth are currently in use. The rest have either crumbled or fallen into neglect," said Saswata Basu, secretary of the Puja committee.

The installation seeks to revive public interest in the cultural and spiritual heritage associated with these riverfront steps.

At Behala Friends, a parallel has been drawn between the effect of war on people in West Asia and the Bengal famine of 1943, triggered by colonial policies of British rulers.

"The theme of our Durga Puja focuses on the plight of people, particularly children and women, due to the war in West Asia. We have also drawn parallels with the 1943 Bengal famine where lakhs died in undivided Bengal due to the deprivation policy of then foreign rulers," Rajnarayan Santra, one of the artists behind the installation art, said.

While a poem 'Face to Face' penned by Naama Hassan, a Palestinian poet based in Gaza, adorns the wall leading to the entrance, there is replica of a vending machine which apparently would churn out weapons on demand.

Santra said, "What is taking place in West Asia currently is not very different compared to the humanitarian crisis that took place during the Bengal famine in 1943 in terms of magnitude of human sufferings, including women and children." "Like artists Chittaprosad and Zainul Abedin, who stood up and brought to life the crisis through their works years back, we have come forward to register our protest on an occasion like Durga Puja," he said.

Visitors pass by a cage-like structure that leads to a space where items resembling rice sacks are found stacked, reminding the days of the 1943 famine.

There is also a replica of a fighter plane having crashed after being shot, alluding to war and bombings.

The deity and her siblings have traces of a famine-affected Bengali mother and her children in their looks. PTI SUS MNB