Ganesh Visarjan with a difference

The Maharashtra Mandal, Kankaria has been celebrating Ganeshotsav in an environment-friendly manner for the past four years. For the first five days of the festival, they celebrate it in a traditional manner, with the Ganesh Visarjan carried out in a different manner.

“For the last four years, we have been keeping a betel nut near the idol of Lord Ganesha. After the first five days, only the betel nut is immersed in the water as part of the visarjan,” said Subhash Anekar, president of the Maharashtra Mandal, Kankaria.

The Mandal has been using the same Ganesha idol for the past four years. After the puja, the idol is kept at the home of a community member.

Meanwhile, for the Karnataka Sangha, Ganesha Puja is just a half-day affair. Members of the community get together at the community hall at Vastrapur. “We celebrate Ganesh Mahotsav at around 6 pm on Saturday. The programme lasts till around 9 pm, after which we take the idol to the Sabarmati river for immersion,” said SK Subramanya, joint secretary of the Karnataka Sangha.

“Around 150 members of our community took part in the visarjan ceremony despite the heavy rain last Saturday,” said MN Satyaprakash, general secretary of Karnataka Sangha.