Keep-condoms-ready-message in Bengal puja pandals

Kolkata, Sep 28 (UNI) Carrying her safe sex message, 'Buladi' will be appearing in puja pandals in Kolkata this year.

" You may feel the urge any time. Always keep condoms handy and have healthy and safe sex," is what she will be saying.

Buladi, the red and blue rag doll-look mascot of the West Bengal State AIDS Control and Prevention Society (WBACPS) that the city is long acquainted with, has so far cajoled the amorous couples from bill boards, television and FM channels not to make love without protection.

But one would now find the housewife-next-door-image in the puja glitter with lights in three dimensional models in the pandals of at least five big community pujas, known for drawing millions of people during the three-day festivity.

Standing nine-feet high, the illuminated models have been installed in vantage positions so that no one misses her messages on safe sex to avoid the dreaded HIV/AIDS and the appeal to contact a hotline number for any advice.

" We have chosen spots considering the the size of crowds that visit the pandals. This glittering visual image, we think, will spread the anti-AIDS message more among the people," WBACPS Deputy Director, Information and Communication, Monideepa Mukherjee said.

Depending on feed back from the people, WBACPS would take Buladi to districts next puja, she said.

Buladi, which has become almost a household name with her inescapable presence everywhere in the city, however, became the centre of a storm in the Assembly recently when cutting across partylines, legislators demanded a ban on public show of the mascot describing it as 'obscene and reprehensible' the manner in which it was allegedly encouraging open sex.

But 'Buladi' remained , sticking to the social cause she was serving, and this time she will be with an image makeover, more vibrant and eloquent.

UNI KDG KK KLC1306