The goddess will arrive, as she does every autumn. But in parts of flood-hit Upper Assam, the celebrations around her will be markedly different this year.
In Sivasagar’s Signal Basti, there will be no idol, no pandal and no elaborate lighting. The Puja committee will instead perform the rituals before a photograph of the goddess, using whatever money it can collect from residents and well-wishers.
In Golaghat, a 126-year-old Puja will continue, but with a reduced budget and spending limited to what the organisers consider essential.
In Charaideo, families are keeping celebrations simple as they continue to recover from losses caused by this year’s devastating floods.
Across these communities, Durga Puja has not been cancelled. It has simply been stripped of much of its usual grandeur.
What remains is the ritual, the faith and a collective determination to keep a cherished tradition alive, even as families rebuild what the floods took away.
Flood-hit communities opt for smaller idols and simpler celebrations this year
When even the idol is missing
For the Signal Basti Puja Committee in Sivasagar, cutting back means going much further than cancelling cultural programmes or reducing decorations.
“This year, we will only follow the rituals because there were floods and people are still recovering. We cannot organise a grand celebration. Our budget is also lower than last year. There will be no idol, pandal or elaborate lighting; we will conduct the Puja using a photograph,” said Jeet Bahadur Thapa, secretary of the Signal Basti Puja Committee.
The committee usually raises funds through donations from the local community and outside. This year, even that familiar exercise has become difficult.
“The floods have destroyed people's lives and left them with nothing. Many people are not even in a position to go to someone's house and ask for donations. Whatever amount we can collect, we will use it to conduct the rituals with a photograph,” Thapa said.
For the committee, the decision is a sharp departure from the scale of celebrations seen in previous years. But the priority this year is simpler, keep the rituals going.
126 years of tradition, on a tighter budget
In Golaghat, the picture is less stark, but the financial strain is similar.
At the Tarini Ballav Dev Goswami Station Committee, the 126th edition of the Puja will be held with a reduced budget.
The committee partly depends on donations collected by going from shop to shop, but businesses have also felt the impact of the floods.
“This year marks the 126th year of our Puja. The floods have affected us considerably. Businesses have also been affected, and since we go from shop to shop to collect donations, this has had an impact on our fundraising as well,” said Dhruva Kataki, secretary of the committee.
The Puja will continue, but the committee is drawing a line between what is desirable and what is necessary.
“We will have to manage the Puja with a lower budget this year. We will only spend on the things that are essential and cannot be avoided,” Kataki said.
The difference between Sivasagar and Golaghat is one of degree rather than circumstance.
One committee has done away with the idol and pandal altogether; the other is trying to preserve the familiar form of the festival within tighter financial limits.
Both, however, are responding to the same reality - communities that would normally contribute to the festivities are still counting the cost of the floods.
Smaller idols, smaller pandals
The impact is also reaching beyond Puja committees in Upper Assam. For idol makers, the months before Durga Puja are among the busiest of the year. This season, however, tighter budgets are showing up in the size of idols being ordered.
Chiranjib Bora, an idol maker from Jorhat who has been making idols for 21 years, said demand for smaller idols has increased in villages across Upper Assam that were badly affected by the floods.
“The demand for smaller idols has increased, particularly in villages that were badly affected by the floods. The pandals are also becoming smaller because there are budget constraints,” Bora said.
The reason, he said, is straightforward. Puja committees depend on donations from local residents, many of whom are themselves still trying to recover.
“People raise donations for the Puja, but there is a limit to how much money the same people can contribute. Many people have still not recovered from the floods, so this year they are focusing only on carrying out the rituals and traditions in a simple manner,” Bora said.
For an industry that depends heavily on the festive season, smaller idols and smaller pandals are more than a visual change.
They reflect how the financial strain of a disaster can travel from households to community celebrations and eventually to the people who make their living from them.
Flood-hit communities opt for smaller idols and simpler celebrations this year
When Puja feels different
In Charaideo, the change is being felt not only in the scale of celebrations but also in the mood surrounding them.
For residents who have spent months dealing with the aftermath of the floods, the festival cannot be separated entirely from the losses of the past few months.
“This year, there will not be the same kind of glamour and grandeur that we have seen during Puja in previous years as families continue to recover from flood losses,” said Sneha Gogoi, a resident of Charaideo.
Gogoi said her family had lost several household items and belongings in the floods and is still trying to repair or replace the damaged possessions.
While they would normally spend around Rs 5,000-Rs 7,000 on Puja, their spending has been reduced to around Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000 this year.
“Puja feels different this year because of the flood damage. We are keeping the celebrations simple,” she said.
Her experience captures the quieter reality behind the smaller budgets, pared-down festivities and modest idols across flood-hit parts of Upper Assam.
For many families, the question this year is not simply how much they can spend on Puja, but how much they can afford after repairing homes, replacing damaged belongings and trying to restore disrupted livelihoods.
This year, for many, celebrating is less about what they can afford to add to Puja than what they have managed to hold on to after the floods.