HYDERABAD: This year’s Ganeshostav celebration marks the first large-scale festivities following the COVID-19 pandemic and Hyderabadis are all jamboree about it. Streets are glittering with lights, ornated with flowers, fragrant with incense and citizens are filled with enthusiasm to take part in the 10-day Ganesh festival.
Like the pre-pandemic era, most of the areas in the city have come up with new concepts and creative ideas to celebrate the festival. This year many in the city have opted for eco-friendly Ganesh idols, including Khairthabad’s majestic mammoth. CE speaks to some of the artists and citizens who are to make the festival memorable.
Khairatabad’s eco-friendly majesty
Khairatabad Ganesh has always been one of the well-known and most visited Ganesh pandals in the city. The tallest Ganesh that is placed every year for the public for darshan is an attraction that Hyderabad awaits, every year. But this year, although the idol is slightly short at 50ft, its majesty remains intact.
“It took us around two and a half months to complete the idol. Over 80 people toiled to work their way with clay and other eco-friendly materials to finish the project,” says the chief idol sculptor Chinnaswamy Rajendran. He further adds, “We used sand and stuli powder mixer for the outline and details. After the detailing was done we placed cloth and gave the structure a smooth finish. It was challenging. We had to put in a lot of effort to make the idol this year, the materials were different, but we did it,” the sculptor added.
Lord Ganesh on the cricket field
Creativity and newness are the hallmarks of the Ganesh pandal curated by the ‘Bal Yuva Mandal’ at Goshamahal. For the last 10 years, youngsters associated with Bal Yuva Mandal have opted for eco-friendly Ganesh.
The eco-friendly idol is custom made at Dhoolpet and the themed pandal setup is decorated by a group of 16 young boys led by Akash Agarwal. He says, “Last year we did a corona warrior theme, and before last year we decorated the pandal with dry fruits and a few years back we also did it with artificial diamonds. This year we are doing a cricket-themed Ganesh pandal, where Ganesh is seen as the batter and musk raj (mice) is the baller. It took two months to decorate the theme.”
Farming Ganesh
The Future Foundation Society which is formed by IT members in the city has also come up with a different version of their Ganesh. This year they decided to pay tribute to the farmers and have made a farmer Ganesh. Sachin Chandan, the President of the foundation says, “We come up with a new concept and we try and give out a social message to the society with our theme.
Last year, we had a vaccine theme to create awareness about the vaccine. This year we are dedicating it to the farmers of India. Our kids do not know our farmers and that is why this year’s theme is to create awareness. Our 5ft Ganesh sits on top of a 19ft tall corn sculpture. We used iron, foam board and clay. The finishing is with POP so that it does not dissolve when it rains. The whole farm set-up can be seen in this pandal.”