Ganapati - 2005

While I am in the 'Ganapati' mood, I thought I might as well post photos of Ganapati 2005. I also happened to have a photo of 'Work in Progress' - Idol making in progress.



Work in progress - preparation of idol making typically starts 3 weeks before the festival. The actual making of the idol does not take much time (as per my uncle he makes and remakes the idol depending on what 'pose' of Lord Ganesh he has in mind) - the biggest time being consumed for the drying of the idol as it is monsoon time during the festival.


the Lord at his place - just before the pooja


post the pooja - with his favourite 'red' flower offerings


'Hartalika' besides the Lord.


What you see on the left hand side is a model of our 'family' house in Pune. It was under construction last year.

Regards...

Ganapati - 2006

It would be a fairly auspicous way to start this photoblog by posting photos of Lord Ganesh. These photos are of the Ganesh idol from our house and before the photos it is worth pointing a few things that make the way Ganapati festival is celebrated in our family unique - very unique.

• Firstly, the idol has always been made by hand by someone from within the family. First it used to be my grandmother, but now in the nineties she finds it difficult so the responsibility has been taken over by my eldest uncle. This has been the practice unchanged for almost 4 decades!
• Secondly, the idol is made out of 'shadu' clay which very quickly dissolves in water and the 'shadu' clay itself being from river banks, does not pollute the water in anyway.
• Thirdly, since late 90s, we stopped doing visarjan in wells or public 'visarjan' places. We do 'visarjan' of the Ganesh idol in our home itself and once the idol dissolves in water, the water is put into plants. This ensures that we at least do not cause the silting of wells or lakes.
• Finally, we do not use any polythene or thermocol for decorations. Only flowers, paper and other 'eco-friendly' products are used. Even the colors used in painting the idol, paper, cardboard etc are simple water colors.

Now the photos! Enjoi...

Ganapati bappa moraya... pudchya varshi lavkar ya...