Eco-friendly Ganpati festival gets an anti-dowry theme

One of many trending philanthropies during this year's 10-day Ganesh Chaturthi in the city is the anti-dowry campaign that will be advocated by the Srinivas Ganesh Utsav Mandal in Mulund through their Ganpati idol.

The mandal has been celebrating the Ganpati festival in an eco-friendly way for nearly 30 years now, and have decided to spread the word on anti-dowry.

"For many years we have been celebrating the festival in an eco-friendly manner. We also look up to not leaving the society on the day of immersion and dismantle the products used for making the idol and giving it to people," said Kalpesh Lodaya, member of the Mandal.

The Mandal has about 50 odd members. The members makes the Ganpati idol themselves including the decoration. "Each one has some expertise that comes to use. Since the theme is anti-dowry, we felt it is important that the set up looks like a wedding mandap where marriages take place so that the message is driven. The idea is to tell devotees that when a girl is getting married, she is Lakshmi and they do not need any other monetary Lakshmi after that," said Lodaya.

More than 12 articles will be used to make the Ganpati idol including thread, pagdi (turban cloth), matka (pot), supari (betel nut), havan kund, chaab (in which mother's handover a saree to their daughters for wedding), sword, maa matka (mother pot), and coconut are among the articles that will be used to make the Ganpati and the mandal.

"All the things are eco-friendly and like every year, this year too we will not be immersing this. In fact, nearly sixty percent of our decoration is from what we used last year. That also helps us celebrate the festival in little budget," said Lodaya.