By Probir Pramanik, IANS
Mumbai : Mumbai is all aglitter and celebrating. From towering jewel-laden Lord Ganeshas to little clay statues placed in neighbourhood parks and homes, the elephant-headed god – the harbinger of good fortune – is the cynosure of India’s financial and entertainment capital, and will remain so for the next week.
From the traditional crowd-puller Ganapati ‘Lalbaugcha Raja’ of Lower Parel in central Mumbai to this year’s costliest idol installed at GSB Mandal in Matunga, there are around 8,000 Ganesha community pujas being held across the city and its suburbs.
The idols are in various sizes and colours with the loveable pot-bellied form of Ganesha, the son of Hindu god Shiva and goddess Parvati, being worshipped by the thousands who crowd the mandals or marquees during the 10-day festival that began Saturday.
Almost every locality in Mumbai has its own community mandals (a group that organises the community festival), which vie with each other to put up bigger idols and elaborately decorated pandals. It is also the time when the mandals organise cultural activities, songs and dramas with Bollywood celebrities making special appearances.
The GSB Mandal Ganesha at 21-feet is not only among the tallest, but is adorned with jewellery worth a whopping Rs.70 million. And unlike the other tall idols that are made of Plaster of Paris, this Ganesha is crafted of clay.
But with over 60 kg of the yellow metal and another 175 kg of silver in jewellery decorating the idol, the Ganeshotsav committee has insured one of India’s most popular deities for an annual premium of over Rs.250,000!
“Besides the fear of unintentional damage to the idol and the jewellery, so much gold can obviously tempt anyone,” said committee president Dinesh Pai.
“The premium amount is nothing compared to the sum the idol has been insured for,” Pai said, unwilling to disclose the insured sum. “We are paying an annual premium of Rs.250,000.”
“This year with the gold and silver ornaments, we are expecting the crowd to touch the 100,000 mark on important days of the festival,” Pai told IANS.
The mandal has constructed a 250-feet-long wooden ‘flyover’ to ensure that devotees can have a quick ‘darshan’ and not crowd the main hall. The organisers have also put into place eco-friendly cooking systems to prepare prasad to be offered to devotees – in eco-friendly packets too.
In neighbouring Lalbaugcha Raja, the largest and traditional crowd puller and the megapolis’ signature Ganeshotsav, such fringe benefits are absent.
But Lalbagugcha Raja is on a league of its own, for Ganeshotsav is deemed to have come to a close in the city of 15 million once this idol is immersed on the 11th day in the Arabian Sea – on Anant Chaturthi Sep 25.
“The Lalabaugcha Raja still draws in one million visitors daily solely on the strength of its navsacha Ganpati or the wish fulfilling god,” says Mandal chairman Sunil Doshi.
“On any day of the festival, the queues span over 1.5 km. Each devotee on an average brings a token offering of at least 1.5 kg of modak, which come with offerings of gold and silver,” Joshi told IANS.
Not only does it have the highest footfall among all of Mumbai’s Ganesh pujas, the donations in cash offerings and gold, silver and other smaller items run into hundred of millions of rupees.
This apart, the mandal has an entire economy that provides seasonal income to enterprising hawkers who throng here from all parts of the city to make a killing.
Though unwilling to disclose the exact amount the mandal makes from donations, Joshi said the committee holds auctions of gold, silver and other items after an internal audit is made and the proceeds are often donated to non-governmental organisations and to give scholarships to poor and needy students.
“Every year, we fund poor and needy students of the locality with the proceeds of the Ganeshotsav. We have several study centres for poor students too. You see, the area on which the Ganeshotsav is celebrated is a fish market for the rest of the year.”
“Interestingly, it was the local fisherwomen who initiated the worship in 1934 and ever since the community plays a major role in the celebrations,” Joshi said.
Besides the Lalbaugcha Raja and King’s Circle Ganeshotsav in Matunga, Mumbai’s first community Ganeshotsav at the Kreshvji Naik Chawl in Girgaum in central Mumbai continues to live up to its association with its founder, freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak.
The mandal shuns all advertisements and donations from liquor or tobacco firms and even discourages Bollywood firms from advertising, in keeping with the simplicity of its founder.
“For years we have limited our idol to the 2.5-feet level and we do not allow advertisers to adorn the pandals, as we are opposed to any form of liquor or tobacco advertisements,” said Vinod Satpute, who along with his team of old-timer residents organises the Ganeshotsav.
Not to be left out, suburban Mumbai too has its own and popular Ganeshotsavs. The Andhericha Raja in Azad Nagar in the western suburb of Andheri is one of the popular wish-fulfilling Ganeshas.
“This year we have housed the 8-feet-tall Ganesh in a sheesh mahal made of 2 million pieces of glass and each of them will reflect the image of the idol,” says Uday Salian of the Andhericha Raja Mandal.