People of Mumbai and the coastal Konkan coast and elsewhere in Maharashtra on Thursday welcomed Lord Ganesha to their homes amid the shadow of Covid-19 pandemic’s third wave and heavy rains.
The 10-day Ganeshutsav starts on 10 September on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi and ends on 19 September on Anant Chaturdashi.
With a sudden surge in cases in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur and high positivity rates in some parts of districts of Konkan and Western Maharashtra - which triggered fears of a third wave - the government decided to ban physical darshans in pandals and asked the organisers to offer online darshans.
“In 2020, during the first wave, we saw that the cases surged after Ganeshutsav. We are in the second wave and faced with the third wave. Just ahead of Ganeshutsav in 2021, we are seeing a surge in cases,” Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said during back-to-back review meetings over the week.
“We expect Covid-19 to be with us for a few years and we have to live with it. Future waves and their impact would be governed by people’s behaviour, extent of previous infection, speed of vaccination and its coverage,” said Dr IS Gilada, secretary general, Organized Medicine Academic Guild.
However, despite warnings, crowds were seen in the markets ahead of the Ganpati festival, particularly in sweet shops, flower markets and puja stores.
The celebrations this time too are going to be a low-key affair as the usual extravaganza is missing in the wake of the viral pandemic that is sweeping across India.
Amidt chants of ‘Ganpati Bappa Morya’, people started bringing in idols of Lord Ganesha at their homes, housing societies and complexes and sarvajanik mandals.
On Friday morning on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, the ‘sthaapna’ pooja will be performed followed by traditional aartis to mark the birthday of Lord Ganesha, the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.
Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed-pot-bellied God of wisdom, brings in prosperity and good fortune. Ganapati stands as a symbol of knowledge, as the lord of the lords as 'Ganadhipati' as the remover of obstacles 'Vignaharta'.
Ganeshutsav is the biggest festival of Maharashtra – with Mumbai Metropolitan Region-Pune-Nashik being the epicentre of the celebrations.
Back-to-back for two years, the Maharashtra government has restricted the height of idols to 2 feet for household and 4 feet for public mandals.
Despite constraints, people have managed to put together themes - and several of them around the Covid-19 pandemic, Olympic and Paralympic success for India.
The Ganesh idol at the house of former Vice Chancellor of University of Mumbai Dr Sanjay Deshmukh looks like Neeraj Chopra.
The Thanawala family, known for its innovative ideals, are promoting EVs - and the Ganpati is seen here as pillion rider and mushak is seen here as rider.
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