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Amarnath yatra in a Mumbai home

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The yatra, created with a refrigerator compressor, at the Agarwal home
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This year, the fourth generation of the Agarwal family are celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi. What began from a 50 paise Ganpati idol 48 years back has seen a grand makeover in the form of a complete Amarnath yatra in their Dadar house this time.

A makeshift ice Shivling in a cave has been created using a refrigerator compressor and metal rods and the yatra begins from Pahalgam and ends at the cave where Lord Shankar is said to have imparted the knowledge of immortality to Goddess Parvati. The cave and the mountains have been created from gunny sacks, cane baskets and cane mattresses. The bridges have been made from wood and ice-cream sticks and the ground has real grass with plants and saplings that will be gifted to guests. The yatra is complete with a toy helicopter stationed at one of the mountains.

The Ganpati idol has the look of Lord Shankar and has been made from shalu mati (clay) which dissolves easily in water. "The Rudraksh mala is real and the murmura garland has the words 'Shree Ganesh' written on it 1008 times," said Dauji Agarwal, who started this tradition in the family.

"We had the Amarnath yatra theme seven years back and it is back on popular demand. Our daughters-in-law wanted to see it. We have 150 guests daily for 10 days and then we immerse our idol at the Shivaji park beach. We will re-use the decorations next year and have never used plastic," said Alka Agarwal, one of the 14 members of the family who helped create this grand yatra.

The eldest member in the family is 89-years-old and the youngest is nine-months-old. The whole theme was ready in four days. The kalash above the ice Shivling gets its water from a glucose drip hidden behind the cave and helps in ice formation behind the idol. "It's practical but it is also for humour. We have kept the glucose drip for God if he gets fever from all the ice behind him," laughed Dauji, also a sweetmeat shop owner.

The family had also started the tradition of getting a smaller eco-friendly idol 25 years ago for the children as they want one of their own. "They said that the bigger idols was for adults and wanted their own child God," said Alka.

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