<div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><font face="Charter"><b>Ranchi, Jharkhand:</b> And finally, he completed my eyes. I slowly opened it but I knew that everything would not be&nbsp;</font></span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">the same as it was the previous years because of the COVID pandemic.&nbsp; A young sculptor of&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">the workshop has just started painting me. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><br></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">I was disappointed to see that he was not&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">wearing his face mask. Then I looked around and felt the unusualness. I noticed there are two&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">types of people, one who were taking the pandemic seriously and the second one who is&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">acting exactly the vice-versa. There are very few sculptors working in the workshop as there are</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">&nbsp;not enough work for them this year. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><br></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">The one’s remaining is purposely maintaining a&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">distance from each other. Everything seems to be very quiet and sad. No radio, no humming&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">of old songs, no gossips, no mini-cigar breaks, no evening snack party, seems to be&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">happening. I, Ganesha, remover of obstacles, am heavy-hearted to see that the person who&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">creates me as an idol doesn’t look a believer any more.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><font face="Charter"><br></font></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><font face="Charter">I have been seeing Jagadish Pal,&nbsp;</font></span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">the owner of this artistic idol workshop “Vishwakarma Shilpalaya” since 1973. Most of his&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">sculptors are from Kolkata. He creates idols every year for his permanent as well as for the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">new customers but this year the story is a bit different. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><br></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">Forget new ones, the permanent&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">customers are also refusing to receive their idols this year. Government and citizens are&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">taking extreme precautions for COVID-19 as the awareness for its spread is still lacking. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><br></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">The&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">plight of the sculptor is not a secret anymore and now this pandemic adds as a cherry on&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">the top. There are several incomplete idols lying around which tells the exact story of the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">market crisis. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><br></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">Jagadish was sadly expressing his thought to one of his fellow sculptors&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">working there saying “In the past, I had taken a good decision by not letting my only&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">son get into this business. If he had entered sculpturing like me, his fate would also&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">be like mine. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><br></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">Now that he is pursuing an MBA, I am sure he will do better in life than&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">what I am now and will not make his family struggle for the basic needs in life.” Right&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">now I have to digest this as it’s a harsh reality. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><br></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">Like a few other professions, sculptors are&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">also been underpaid and this pandemic has made their life more miserable. The sculptors&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">are well aware of the fact that social distancing and hygiene are mandatory to stop the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">spread of COVID-19.&nbsp;</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.1px; font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px;">But, I see them living in a matchbox-sized room that can make anyone&nbsp;</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.1px; font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px;">claustrophobic.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><br></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">One morning, I saw them all use one public toilet, shaving and taking bath</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><font face="Charter">simultaneously in the same open space. Another day I saw them completing their daily</font></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><font face="Charter">chores and dozing off to their temporary bunkers. Also, most of the time I see no masks on&nbsp;</font></span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">their faces. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><br></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">Their masks either stay lowered or hanging by one of their ears. To me, it seems</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><font face="Charter">like masks make them uncomfortable while working, and thus they keep it down. It’s is</font></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><font face="Charter">despairing to witness that with the little amount of money that these sculptors earn, they can&nbsp;</font></span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">either build themselves a better living and working condition or can send it home to their&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">families.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><br></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><font face="Charter">This was the story of my creators. I am just the start, Ganesh puja will be followed by Durga&nbsp;</font></span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">puja, Laxmi puja and Kali puja. I am afraid, they too will have the same fate as mine. But,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">nevertheless, seeing the sculptors still sculpting us with aspiration in their eyes gives us&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">hopes too. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><br></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-family: Charter; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">I wish that people will not lose their faiths from us, even though in this pandemic</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><font face="Charter">year, I remain unsold.</font></span></div>