"Will we now have to buy tickets to see Ma Durga?"

This angry question came from a woman in her 40s, standing with her young daughter of perhaps 10 or 12 outside a towering puja pandal at Kendua in south Kolkata last Sunday the 21st, a whole week before the Durga Pujas officially began on 28 September.

I squirmed.

The question was not directed at me, but certainly a snide comment meant to be heard by my friend. She had bought tickets on a link, which you could reach via a food platform app, to gain early access to the Kendua Shanti Shangha pandal and the idol of Goddess Durga inside it as they had both been created by Santanu Shibani Paul, one of Kolkata's top Durga Puja artists.

She wanted to view his creations at leisure, without battling the most daunting thing about the festivities

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