A celebratory send-off for Ganesha in Hubli

Immersion processions, which marked the end of the 10-day Ganeshotsava, continue till Thursday morning

The spraying of gulal and other colours, playing music, raising slogans praising ‘Lord Ganapati’, and bursting of crackers continued throughout Wednesday night. Photo: Kiran Bakale

Ganesh idols were taken out in colourful immersion processions comprising folk troupes and bands throughout Wednesday night. The processions, which marked the end of the 10-day Ganeshotsava festivities in Hubli, culminated on Thursday morning.

Although the inauguration was in the afternoon, the processions began only late in the evening as most of the Ganesh mandals were engaged in auctioning the ‘puja material’ used during the festivities.

Barring some Ganesh mandals which completed the immersion rituals before 10 p.m., the rest of the mandals took out processions throughout the night and even after daybreak.

Decorated Ganesh idols were taken out from Durgadbail via Broadway, Myadar Oni, Dajibanpet and Kittur Chennamma Circle to the tank, adjacent to the Mahatma Gandhi Park (which houses Indira Glass House), for immersion.

Much to the relief of the Ganesh mandals and large number of people, who either took part in the processions or waited to watch it, there was respite from the rain.

While initially, women and young girls took part in the processions, dancing to the music played by the folk troupes, young boys and men danced through the night. The spraying of gulal and other colours, playing music, raising slogans praising “lord Ganapati”, and bursting of crackers continued throughout the night as idol after idol mounted on decorated vehicles moved towards the immersion tank at a snail’s pace.

Rules flouted

Although the Police Commissioner had issued instructions to the Ganesh mandals not to use sound systems of over 200 decibels, it was evident that it was not being taken seriously as huge speakers were mounted on the decorated vehicles.

Security provided

As a precautionary measure, a large number of police personnel and paramilitary forces had been deployed to provide security all along the procession route.

It was close to 11 a.m. when the last Ganesh idol, which, in fact, was the biggest one, was immersed in the tank. As the tank was nearly full, an earthmover was pressed into service to make space for the idol.