Every year, Kolkata Durga Puja organisers go all out with their themes, trying to outdo each other in the race to be the most innovative pandal in the city. Pandals are temporary installations, varying in size, often based on a single theme, which house the idol of the Goddess Durga with her children during the festival.

Dubai continues to fascinate many puja organisers in West Bengal, and this year, one pandal in Kolkata has attempted to recreate major landmarks from the emirate.

IB Block in Kolkata's Salt Lake has gone beyond the recreating just the Burj Khalifa to actually capture the feel of Dubai. Replicas of Museum of the Future, the Dubai Frame, Burj Al Arab and the Burj Khalifa have made it one of the most-talked about pandals in Kolkata this year.

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Early visitors looking to avoid the rush of the main festival days have already posted videos from the of the IB Block pandal, which are going viral now, increasing curiosity around this marvel.

The puja was inaugurated by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Organisers of the IB Block Durga Puja say this year they wanted to recreate the Dubai skyline to "pay tribute to a city that reflects India's growing global dreams."

"Dubai stands as a global hub where cultures meet, and Indians make up one of its largest visitor/expat groups. By drawing inspiration from this vibrant city, our aim is to highlight how Indian and Emirati cultures can blend seamlessly, inspiring, enriching, and uplifting one another. Through this theme, we wish to celebrate not only the spirit of Durga Puja but also the harmony and shared aspirations of two thriving worlds," Raipurna Halder, member of the IB Block Durga Puja organising committee, told Khaleej Times.

At the heart of the puja stands the 42-metre bamboo-and-steel pandal, shaped like the Burj Khalifa. Surrounding it, visitors can see creative recreations of Dubai's landmarks, including the Frame and the Museum of the Future.

The pandal was the vision of committee chairman Ranjan Poddar, which was brought to life by artist Reyaz Ahmed, a frequent traveller to Dubai who has visited all the landmarks in order to be able to replicate them. It took three months to recreate the designs.

Replicating the architectural marvels was an uphill task, especially with the incessant rains in Kolkata this year.

"The rain was particularly challenging for us because we had a 42-metre Burj Khalifa with pixel lights on the whole monument. The electric work had to be paused every other day. On the day of the opening, we could not put up the Museum of the Future as there was a massive cloudburst in Kolkata which damaged the entire structure. We still managed to turn the whole thing around," Halder shared.

The primary structures are made of bamboo, with reflective acrylic sheets on top which elevate the light and sound show that accompanies the installations to make the experience even more fascinating.

"The pandal is heavily crowded all day, till 5am in the morning. The reels have gone viral on social media and we have already received so many awards," Halder said.

What's adding to the allure is the idol of Goddess Durga, adorned with pure 123.3 kgs of gold jewellery.

Durga Puja is the biggest festival for the Bengali community, with hundreds of thousands turning up to witness the installations at each of these themed pandals during the main 5 days of the celebration.

In 2021, UNESCO recognised the annual festival as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It is seen as the best instance of the public performance of religion and art , and as a thriving ground for collaborative artists and designers.

Dubai has been a source of inspiration for Kolkata's festival organisers in the past, including the Sreebhumi Durga Puja in 2021 which had to be shut down due to overcrowding as people poured in to watch the laser light and sound show at the pandal modelled on Burj Khalifa.

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