Imagine an art gallery that spans an entire city, drawing millions of visitors in just a few days. This is the reality of Durga Puja in Kolkata, where faith, craft, and activism converge into a breathtaking public art spectacle.

I am in the city for a preview of the pandals as they are being assembled. It is a few days before heavy rains inundate the city , claim lives and flood many pandals . With themes ranging from food adulteration and acid attacks to Bengali literary thrillers, and titles such as Proshno (question), Artonad (scream), Nigurho (mystery) and Ocholayton (static), it isn’t surprising that newspaper headlines talk about the pandals this year being puzzles for the common man. Or an unofficial IQ test. But there are also thousands of religious

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