Autumn resonates with the rhythmic beating of drums, decorations and idols in the Indian subcontinent as the Bengali community gears up to celebrate the festival of Durga Puja.
Miles away, Bengalis in London will also get to give a traditional welcome and send-off to goddess Durga for the first time.
Usually, idols of the goddess and her family are made in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal by craftsmen, which are then shipped abroad.
At the end of the festival, they are dismantled, boxed and stored to be used for the next few years, instead of the traditional immersion in a river.
But this time around, images of the deities - 18ft by 20ft - were made in the British Museum by artisans from Bengal and they will be submerged in the river Thames at Putney on 2 October.
Heavenly visit
According to the Hindu mythology, goddess Durga, who is venerated as the mother of the universe, came to the earth to end the tyranny of a demon, Mahishasur.
The goddess' win is celebrated as the victory of good over evil and so every year the deity is said to visit the earth, her home, with her four children.
The museum decided to get into the cultural and artistic aspect of the festival by exhibiting the making of the idol.
"Rather than an exhibition we decided to give visitors a chance to engage with the craftsmen and the culture," said Brian Durrans, the acting keeper and curator of Asian Ethnography at the museum.
A team of three craftsmen from West Bengal, led by master artisan Nemai Chandra Pal, started work on the idol on 12 August.
Cow dung
Mr Pal's family has been making idols for the royal family of Krishnanagar for more than 150 years.
Traditionally, bamboo, rice straw, raw jute and jute ropes are used to build the basic structure. It is then covered by layers of two kinds of local clay mixed with rice husk.
Then it gets a coating of a mixture of cow dung and wet mud and soil from river Ganges. This is ritualistically important as the process is "purifying".
Finally, it is painted, adorned with clothes and accessories.
As the traditional items were unavailable in London, Mr Pal brought in some cow dung and Ganges mud mixture and jute ropes.
The museum also provided organic colours to prevent pollution when the idols are immersed.
UK's health and safety regulations also posed ritualistic dilemmas. The craftsmen had to wear proper work gear including boots and had to work from scaffoldings without bending too much.
Mr Pal said: "It doesn't feel good to wear shoes around the gods... but I worked barefoot while painting the eyes as it signifies the idol is alive.
"It was a bit intrusive to be asked not to bend and stop work for inspections... a day's work took five days."
The idols, which will be moved to Camden Town Hall on Wednesday for the festival, drew large crowds.
Ajit Mal, an American Bengali, who was visiting London with his family, was surprised.
"This is a bonus... it brings back so many memories of home. I haven't been to Bengal during Pujas for so many years."
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