Ganesh Chaturthi

On 11th of this month is the 1st day of Ganeshutsav. I am very happy to celebrate this festival every year. I remember, that last year I was at Terna college. They really celebrated the festival with complete devotion & style. It was my first Ganpati festival after marriage. I liked the way they celebrated. Every morning when I reached college, I could hear the Aarti's every day, continuously for 5 days. That days were really good. Someday, I would go with my husband Rajeev Ratan Singh to a local Ganpati Pandal.

The festival is coming back. This time I will celebrate the festival in K. E. M.

My parents used to bring POP Ganpati idols every year, till once my mother decided to replace the POP idol with a silver idol. She was considerate about the nature.

The other good thing about 11th is that I will finally get a holiday.

This festival was started by Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak during the British rule. He started this festival in order to hold large meetings where Indians could come and decide further action's against British. By organizing this festival he also wanted to remove the differences between the Brahman's & the lower caste's & the differences which the Britishers had created. At the end of the festival i.e. 10th day the people who bring the idols have to immerse the idol in water. Lokmanya Tilak insisted that the idols be made of earth because what comes from the soil has to return back to its origin.

But now a days, almost all the idol's are made of POP. Immersing the idol's in water pollutes it, because of POP as well as the color. Most of the times, due to the big idol size, the idol does not get completely immersed in water & the broken idols come to the shore next day due to the waves produced in the sea.

To save pollution, I would prefer Eco - friendly idols. Also as these idols would easily mix with the natural earth, they would not break & lie on the shores, a sight which most worshipers would not like.

Lord Ganpati is known by many names & one of the names is Vighnaharta which means the lord who removes all troubles. By using Eco - friendly idols surely the lord will remove all our troubles.

My mother used to make a lot of eatables & ladoo's during this festival. I still remember the fun & the taste of the Besan, Churma & the Coconut ladoos which my mother used to make.

Most of the people will say that if POP idols are stopped then who will give employment to large number of workers who make POP idols? But I say can't this workers make earth idols or idols in an Eco - friendly way & make it as attractive as POP idols? Thus they will never remain unemployed.