Pay your respects to Ganesha on Sunday as he makes his way to Chowpatty.
The lakhs of Ganpati devotees who have not yet been able to get a darshan of Lalbaugcha Raja during the 10-day festival, owing to long queues and heightened security, need not fear. They can get the opportunity on Sunday when the idol will travel through the city’s roads for its immersion at Girgaum Chowpatty.
The idol is the only one to travel for over 24 hours from its present abode at Lalbaug to the immersion site. The procession of the Lalbaugcha Raja will start its journey on Sunday morning at 10am from Lalbaug and reach Chowpatty the next morning. A thick posse of policemen will travel with the procession as it winds its way to the beach.
The route will be the one that has been traditionally followed, Lalbaug, Bharat Mata theatre, Lalbaug, Sane Guruji Marg, Byculla railway station (W), Clare Road, Nagpada, Duncan Road, Don Tanki, Sant Sena Maharaj Marg (Kumbharwada), Sutar Gully, Madhav Baug, CP Tank, VP Road, Opera House and finally, Girgaum Chowpatty.
As the procession travels along this route, the members of more than 100 social organisations will wait their turn to pray to the idol. One organisation will be distributing snacks at Nagpada to devotees travelling with the deity.
A senior office bearer of Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal said, “The number of devotees has been increasing every year. This year, we broke all previous records for the number of people who came for darshan. There are lots of people who want to take the blessing of the Raja, but the long queues prevent them. These devotees wait along the immersion route”. This year, he said, lakhs of devotees are expected to join the immersion procession.
This year, unlike earlier, the idol will not have any chance to be washed ashore. “Our mandal wants to ensure that Raja idol does not meet the same fate. We have constructed four huge metal floats that will be used to carry the giant idol out into the sea,” he said.
The floats were anchored in the sea off Chowpatty a month before the festival began.
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