In India Ganapathi Navrathri is one of the biggest festivals and one has to come and see the procession on the final day in Mumbai and also Hyderabad. People from foreign countries come to witness this event. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, better known, perhaps, by the honorific ‘Lokmanya,’ started this as a community celebration, a way to increase the nationalistic spirit he and other freedom fighters were seeking to instill in the Indians.
One can see the Ganesh Pandals in nook and corner of the city. Right from kids to people of all ages participate in this event. . Housing colonies, public roads — in some places whole streets are taken over, even entire neighbourhoods — become one large Ganesh pandal. Ganesh mandals compete to have the biggest, most lavish displays; music plays loud, late into the night, sacred bhajans and the chanting of pujaris competing with the DJs blasting out the latest Bollywood hits.
Khairatabad in Hyderabad is known for installing a tall Idol with a big laddoo. People from across the state and also city come to have a darashan of this Ganapathi.
Aside from its traditional bastions in Maharashtra — Pune, Mumbai, the Konkan coast — public celebrations now take place in Gujarat, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, and even the desi diaspora has joined in. Hyderabad is reported to have had even bigger idols than the biggest in Mumbai some times.
The celebrations have gone to a different level and now this festival has become popular across the country.” Unsurprisingly, the festival is also a huge business opportunity for many enterprising souls.The cynosure of all eyes, of course, is the idol.
Shree Omkar Art makes idols from clay and waste paper, which they claim is a first. “Getting perfect finish on idols made of paper is very difficult. With lot of hard work, we have achieved perfection,” he says, not immodestly. “This year we have made 300 idols and only 20 are yet to be sold. Lots of people are buying these because these are light and do not break easily like clay idols.” His creations are, on average, on-fifth to one-tenth as heavy as clay idols of the same size, and cost around Rs. 500 more. His light-weight idols are cheaper to ship, so he has serviced orders from Delhi and Chandigarh, and even to the U.S., Canada and Dubai.
The Mumbai region has over 15,000 small and large Ganesh mandals. Prominent ones like Lalbaugcha Raja and GSB Seva Mandal have budgets running into crores; they decorate their idols with real gold and diamond ornaments.
Rich mandals organise extravagant entertainment events and processions, which come with hefty bills. For example, a worthwhile DJ would charge at least Rs. 50,000.
The festival also provides jobs to thousands of people, most are hired as private security guards and volunteers, aside from the unskilled labourers who get extra work erecting pandals. Even the local fishing community gets a slice of the action: their boats and swimming skills earn them donations for assisting the devout in taking their idols for immersion.
This year the idol prices have gone up like anything. Despite the publicity for Clay Ganeshas, people still crave for the coloured ones with plaster of Paris. The diol rates in Hyderabad start from Rs 250 to Rs 10000 and beyond depending upon the size height and shape. Any way it is big celebration for the youth on all the 11 days across the country. The sweet shops also make killing during these days.
