Making Khairatabad Ganesh idol, a ritual in itself

Workers race against time to finish the task

August 01, 2017 11:58 pm | Updated 11:58 pm IST - Hyderabad

Workers busy building the 57-feet Ganesh idol, at Khairatabad in the city on Tuesday.

Workers busy building the 57-feet Ganesh idol, at Khairatabad in the city on Tuesday.

It is a tower of Babel as workers from across the country race against time to finish the tallest Ganesh idol in the city at Khairatabad. Instructions, commands and cuss words fly thick and fast in Tamil, Rajasthani, Bengali, Malayalam and Telugu as specialised workers team up to execute various tasks.

“Every year, we begin work on Sarva Ekadasi (May 21 this year), which is three months before Vinayaka Chaturthi (August 25). The chief artist, C. Rajendran, who has been responsible for the appearance of Ganesh idol here for the past 30 years, brings a number of drawings and we choose one of them for the year,” said G. Sandeep Raj, convenor, who has been part of the annual event for the past 40 years.

First installed in 1954 by S. Shankaraiah at the same locality, the Ganesh idol grew in size to reach a mammoth 60 feet in 2015. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) asked the organisers to scale down the idol and the size has been shrinking ever since.

“Next year, we will have a 59-feet idol as many people want the idol to be grand. We have been carrying on this event with collections from Hundi. And if people want a taller Ganesh, we cannot ignore their wish,” said Mr. Raj.

With many firsts to its credit, this year the Ganesh idol will have a plaster of paris (gypsum) laddoo instead of the traditional edible one made of chickpea flour and sugar. “We were getting Tappeswaram laddoo sent by Mallibabu, but this year, we will have a PoP laddoo and devotees can bring their laddoos and keep them near the idol which will be distributed later,” said S. Raj Kumar.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.