Assam artist creates Durga idol with medical waste to show solidarity in face of COVID-19

Dhubri (Assam) [India], October 25 (ANI): In an attempt to showcase his creativity, an artist from Assam’s Dubri has created a Durga idol with strips of expired tablets, capsules and injection vials to express solidarity with everyone fighting the COVID-19 menace.
Sanjib Basak, the artisan, who is an employee of the Dhubri district administration, said this year he had hardly any time to come up with new ideas but finally decided to create a 6-feet tall Durga idol with trash.
Sharing his inspirations behind the idol, Basak said, “It took me nearly five months to complete the idols. Around 40,000 strips of tablets, capsules and injection vials of different colours have been used to build the idol.”
“Since everyone waiting for COVID-19 vaccines, I decided to make the idol using medicines,” he added.

Baska, who often had to visit drug stores to procure medicines as a part of his COVID-19 duty, said that he observed that stires throw away its stock of expired medicines. “Often, shopkeepers give expired medicines back to the company. But, this time, because of the lockdown, they could not do so. Hence, there was a lot of waste stock. In the initial phase, I was worried that I won’t be able to make the idol this year due to work pressure and strict safety protocols. But I managed to create one with expired medicines.”
He said that he has used paper, thermocol and board, among other things to fix the medicine strips to a frame and create the idol.
Basak is known for making idols of gods and goddesses in innovative and eco-friendly ways for the last couple of years.
Durga Puja starts from the seventh day after Mahalaya and ends on the tenth day of Dashami or Dussehra.
This year, the festivities were dampened a bit, because of the pandemic. However, devotees are hopeful that the next year will be celebrated with great fervour and they aspire to bid the deadly virus goodbye. (ANI)