QUEEN'S ROAD: Ganesha Chaturthi should give all of us a chance to get our hands dirty! It is so heartening when devotees rekindle their creative side, pick up that lump of clay and roll it into a Ganesha year after year.
Never mind the quality of your effort, making your own little Ganesha keeps the essence of this festival alive. From earth to earth with minimal or no damage to the earth is a real blessing we should be aspiring to.
With a little wet clay from the Potter’s Colony, a carving stick or toothpicks and beads, you can create something really delightful. In case you like baking, you can use cake fondant to make a Ganesha with fondant sheets of different colours, sprinkles and cake beads. Or just get your kids together and play with some modelling clay and create your own version of Ganesha.
Or you can learn from a potter or attend a workshop to figure out the intricacies of an eco-friendly Ganesha. Once done, use non-toxic poster colours and toothpicks for the lord’s tusks.
Size does matter when you celebrate a festival and it’s better to stick to smaller sizes for home worship, rather than overdo a grand celebration by buying huge idols. Sometimes, the gigantic sizes of community Ganesha idols scare me.
Having a small idol is easy on immersion too. You need not head out to the lakes in your vicinity. A bucket of water does it. And all you need to do is pour the water out into planters or the garden.
As for me, I stick to a super simple form of worship like that year when a tiny turmeric cone on a betel leaf became the lord in a nutshell.
Some of us may or may not have managed an eco-friendly effort at home this time but it feels great to ensure that at some level we are not messing with mother nature.
Radhika blogs at http://www.imprintshandmade.com