Paschim Putiary Pally Unnayan Samity focus on 'Leaf'

By A Staff Reporter: Paschim Putiary Pally Unnayan Samity's 68th years initiative focusses on the various ways in which leaf actually touches our life - all along from the primitive period to the modern day. Nabapatrika is one of the core part of Durga Puja from the very onset of the Puja. It denotes nine leaves where nine forms of Goddess Durga are believed to be present. In 5th century BC , it is believed that people started using leaf (palm leaf) as manuscripts.

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From a long period of time spanning to date, many families earn their livelihood by collecting leaves and making plates out of it (primarily banana and shal leaf). In a more organised sector , tea leaf collection is itself an industry of repute. Similarly during the period of 1995 , leaf art started developing in China which later spread to other parts of the world including India. 

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Presently leaf art is becoming highly popular , although it's still an individual initiative with no formal training platform. Both leaf cutting and painting are considered to be part of leaf art. So over the times , leaf has touched our lives in terms of religion, livelihood, education as well as art and culture.

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So we pay tribute to all these life touching experiences through our this year's initiative called Patro- path( leaf - lesson) , courtesy our artist Shri Somnath Tamli. We will touch all these aspects of religion to livelihood to education to art through the contemporary developing art form of leaf art. So in a way it is an amalgamation of tradition and contemporary.

Also with the leaf being the focal point , we will once again reiterate the Go Green environmental friendly message that comes with the leaf and survival of trees.As an environmentally friendly Puja, our present year Pandal is made of nature friendly bio degradable material. Also our Durga Idol will have no harmful chemical colours. 

​Colours used in our idol will be extracted naturally from soil or will be herbal in nature. Let this Puja turn a new leaf in everybody's life and fulfil everybody's wish.