Attapara Unnayan Samity's Khuti Puja Is Done: Photos and Highlights from the 61st Year Ceremony
The bamboo pole that was only a promise on a banner a few days ago is now standing in the ground in Attapara, wrapped tip to base in marigold garlands, with a priest's mantras still hanging in the air around it. Attapara Unnayan Samity's Khuti Puja for the 61st year of its Durga Puja has officially taken place, and if you followed our earlier coverage of the banner reveal and the 16th August date, this is the part where the announcement turns into an actual, lived morning — priest, pole, flowers, and a courtyard full of people who showed up to watch it happen.
Here's everything that unfolded, in pictures and in detail.
The Morning the Pole Went Up
The setting was simple and instantly recognisable to anyone who's attended a North Kolkata para puja's Khuti Puja: a small stage draped in red and gold, ritual items laid out on a carpet — coconuts, bananas, a brass kalash, betel leaves, a lit lamp — and, at the centre of it all, the khuti itself, strung from top to bottom in a thick rope of yellow and red marigolds with a decorative paper fan tied near its crown.
A priest in saffron robes led the consecration while a semicircle of committee members and guests, several in crisp white panjabis, gathered close enough to touch the pole as it was formally planted. That's the moment a Khuti Puja is really built around — not the banner, not the invitation, but the second the pole goes from "leaning against a wall somewhere" to "standing in the exact spot where the pandal will rise." Once that happens, there's no turning back: the Puja season has officially begun for Attapara Unnayan Samity.
Behind the ceremony, the backdrop made the year's theme impossible to miss — "আরম্ভিক" (Aarambhik), the same title that anchored the original banner, printed large on either side of the stage alongside "৬১তম বর্ষ" (61st Year) and the committee's logo. Seeing the word repeated at the actual ceremony, not just on a promotional graphic, is a small but telling detail — it means this year's theme identity has already been carried through from design to ritual, days before the pandal work has even begun.
Meet the Team Behind Aarambhik
Alongside the ceremony, the committee also shared a second banner introducing the two people responsible for shaping this year's Puja: Alok Dey, credited as Pratima (idol artist), and Abhi Maiti, credited under Srijan (creative direction). The banner pairs their hand-drawn portraits with the same "শারদ উৎসব ২০২৬ · ৬১তম বর্ষ" heading used elsewhere, tying the artistic credits directly to the milestone year.
It's a nice touch that a lot of committees skip — putting a face to the names that usually only appear in small print at the bottom of a banner. For a puja stepping into its 61st year, crediting the idol maker and the creative lead this early signals a committee that treats its artists as part of the story, not just contractors working behind the scenes.
The Women of Attapara, Front and Centre
One of the more striking frames from the day shows a large group of women in bright sarees — reds, yellows, oranges, and deep greens — gathered around the newly planted pole, hands resting on it together, with the "Aarambhik" backdrop and the "৬১তম বর্ষ" placards framing them from either side. Ritual items are laid out on the ground in front, and a young child stands among the group, caught mid-photo.
It's a reminder that a Khuti Puja isn't just a priest-and-committee affair — it's a neighbourhood event, and in Attapara, the women of the para clearly turned out in force to mark the occasion together. Photos like this one tend to say more about a puja's community character than any official press note could.
Why This Ceremony Matters for the Season Ahead
With the khuti now planted, Attapara Unnayan Samity has crossed the one ritual threshold every para puja needs before anything else can begin — pandal construction, idol work, decoration, all of it formally follows from this single morning. For a committee entering its 61st year, that continuity is the real headline: six decades of neighbourhood organisers have stood in roughly this same spot, performing roughly this same ritual, before every single Durga Puja Attapara has ever held.
If you're tracking how the rest of the city's Khuti Pujas are unfolding this season, our continuously updated Khuti Puja 2026 coverage follows committees across Kolkata as each one plants its pole and opens its season. And for a look at where the idols themselves are being shaped right now, our coverage of the artisans in Kumartuli tracks the workshops turning commissions like Alok Dey's into finished murtis over the coming weeks.
Stay Updated
We'll keep following Attapara Unnayan Samity's 61st year as it moves from a planted pole toward a finished pandal — bookmark our Khuti Puja 2026 archive and our broader Durga Puja 2026 coverage for updates as they come in. For live photos and announcements straight from the organisers, follow the official Attapara Unnayan Samity Facebook page.
And if you missed how this all started, catch up on our full banner reveal and date announcement for Attapara Unnayan Samity's Khuti Puja 2026 before the season moves any further.
Image Credit: Attapara Unnayan Samity
