Some years ago around noon, a wild rumour started spreading that Ganesh statues were drinking milk. This writer ran along with hundreds of people to the temple at Khairatabad near the flyover and saw with incredible eyes the feat.
Scientists tried to explain away the miracle by saying it was a natural concept of clay and absorption etc. If it were so why isn’t Ganesh absorbing say like today?
We love miracles and when it happens we cannot and will not believe and start giving plausible scientific explanations. What’s with us? Ask the common man or the servant who has taken leave, ‘what is Vinayaka Chaturthi?’ and chances are you will not get any correct answer. Driving away evil is always the common answer.
Ganesha is everyone’s favourite and Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated over a 10-day period in Hyderabad. The matti Vinayakudu and iddhi Vinayakudu is usually worshipped at homes along with plaster of paris Ganesha. Public celebrations of the festival are hugely popular, with local communities (mandalas) vying with each other to put up the biggest statue and the best pandal. The festival is also the time for cultural activities like singing and theatre performances, orchestra and community activities like free medical check-up, blood donation camps, charity for the poor, etc.
Today, the Ganesh Festival is not only a popular festival; it has become a very critical and important economic activity. Many artists, industries, and businesses survive on this mega-event. Ganesh Festival also provides a stage for budding artists to present their art to the public.
You will notice the less sophisticated the place, the bigger the Ganesh will be. If we can be competitive about whether the Ameerpet Ganesh is bigger than the Begumpet Ganesh, why can’t we use the same competitive spirit to check litter/kachda/and keep our streets clean?
However, plaster is non-biodegradable, and insoluble in water. Moreover, the chemical paints used to adorn these plaster idols themselves contain heavy metals like mercury and cadmium, causing water pollution. Also, on immersion, non-biodegradable accessories that originally adorned the idol accumulate in the layers of sand on the beach.
In Goa, the sale of Ganesh idols made from Plaster of Paris (PoP) is banned by the State Government. People are urged to buy traditional clay idols made by artisans.
Can we…
* Return to the traditional use of natural clay idols and immerse the icon in a bucket of water at home.
* Use of a permanent icon made of stone and brass, used every year and a symbolic immersion only.
* Recycling of plaster idols to repaint them and use them again the following year.
* Ban on the immersion of plaster idols into lakes, rivers and the sea.
* Creative use of other biodegradable materials such as papier-mâché to create Ganesh idols.
For a Malayali, next to reaching heaven is eating a Karimeen or “lake pomfret” as it is called in Hyderabad. Alas, the lake pomfret is no longer safe to eat as it’s so badly polluted with chemicals from the immersed Ganeshas.
