Source: Associated Press
CALCUTTA, INDIA, October 25, 2001: Giant, illuminated images of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York are drawing huge crowds at an annual Hindu festival in eastern India dedicated to ridding the world of evil. This year many of the displays show the World Trade Center, being rammed by a plane and reduced to rubble. “It has become the biggest crowd-puller this year,” said Sujit Bose, a member of a festival committee that has set up such a display in a northern Calcutta suburb. “The attack on the U.S. was on everyone’s mind. It is not glorification of a tragedy, but the depiction of a contemporary event.” Some artisans depicted Asura with the face of Osama bin Laden. But police banned those displays as Muslims account for about 15 percent of the population. Not everyone approves of the World Trade Center exhibits. “This is in a bad taste,” said Satadal, a festival organizer. “We should not be celebrating sorrow in times of revelry.” Each year some of the festival displays are drawn from movies or current events.