Doctors, local Puja organisers join hands to take guard against cancer

KOLKATA: A

khuti puja

at Baghajatin on August 15 will not be just about the rituals. The Baghajatin B and C Durga Puja Committee has chosen

cancer

as its theme this year. The organisers have roped in

Bengal Onclogy Foundation

as their partner to raise awareness on the dreaded disease.


“We have lost so many people in our neighbourhood to cancer. Though the diseases is scary, we want to talk about examples like Yuvraj Singh (who won their battle against cancer), talk about its prevention and early detection,” said Siddharth Chaterjee of the marketing and advertising team.

The

awareness programme

will kick off during the khuti puja. The next two months, before Durga Puja, will see informative programmes on cancer. There will also be

doctors

conducting cancer screening.

“Cancer is real and we should be taking more about it, instead of shying away. Durga Puja being Bengal’s biggest festival, we want to use the occasion to reach out to the mass to talk about preventive oncology,” said Dr Gautam Mukhopadhyay, foundation secretary.

Mukhopadhyay and his team of doctors — Somnath Sorcer, Sandip Sarkar and Nilanjan Bhattacharya — are preparing for their puja mission.

This year’s theme has been christened ‘Karkat Kranti’ (revolution against cancer). ‘Kranti aanbe shanti’, ‘Yuvaraj perechhe, Sonali o Parbre’ and ‘cancer has an answer’, will be some of the tag lines that the committee will use to strike a cord with revellers. “Reaching out to Puja revellers with awareness messages our social responsibility,” an organiser said.

Artist Sabyasachi Pal is working on the idols. Instead of asura, goddess Durga will be shown slaying the crab (cancer symbol). Campaigns against tobacco will find a place in the pandal in the form of posters, artefacts and tag liners.




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