Amrita Ganguly-Salian discovers a wave of environmental sensitivity preceding the preparation for the upcoming Ganpati festival all over the country.
Last year, while crossing the Seepz Flyover in Mumbai, my daughter happened to glance out of the vehicle. She calmly said, “Ma, my friend Ganesha”. I wouldn’t have reacted beyond “Hmmm”, if I had not seen the regally crowned head of the deity passing at eye-level to us on the other side of the flyover boundary wall. It took a while to realize that it was a gigantic idol that was being ferried to some venue on an open truck on the road below! The idol must have been at least 30 feet high and could be easily mistaken for the real Lord, out on an evening walk by himself on busy Mumbai streets by a six-year-old or otherwise.The incident is anecdotal, but what I realised that day was the range of idols one gets to see in Mumbai. What Duragpuja is to West Bengal, Ganpati Festival is to Maharashtra. It doesn’t get more all-involving, colourful and spectacular than this when it comes to religious festivals in the state. From minor idols at home ranging from a few inches to a foot or so in height, to thematised showpieces and massive installation ensembles, the variety you get to see in Mumbai is mind-boggling.
Remnants of Faith
This festival embodies the fervour of religion along with the faith of the common man and celebrity alike. Mythology and traditions aside, living in Mumbai I discovered a fascinating aspect that precedes the celebrations, i.e. preparations that are sensitive to society and ecology. Post the ceremonies, the idols are immersed in water and bid adieu. And one often sees tearful devotees next to water masses, with sad expressions on their face. Their faith is immense as the Lord is popularly known to be a lucky charm for all problems. But the sad faces have been prolonged by the sight of debris, rotting garlands and kilos of non-biodegradable articles flooding the ponds, lakes and other water masses. Slowly but steadily, effort has been put in to make the process of immersion not just safer, given the numbers attending these are enormous, but also easier to manage from a waste management point of view. Artificial temporary water masses are created solely for the purpose of immersion so that water bodies with ecology don’t get affected. Clean-up has therefore become a relatively easier task.
Catching Them Young
Over the last few years, several citizen initiatives have been working on educating masses about the hazards of the Plaster of Paris idols made with chemical paints and non-biodegradable decorations.
This is a very important trend that is catching up immensely, whichwould probably make both Lord Ganesha and Mother Earth happy. The hazards of the easily available Plaster of Paris Ganesha idols are beingshared actively with the masses. The mindless use of chemical colours and non-biodegradable decorations are been activity explained to the common people. My first brush with this was at the school-level”Eco Ganesha Clay Modelling workshops” that are organised a month or so before the festival all around. The idea is to popularise the usage of natural clay and other creative natural and bio-degradable materials for creating idols for the festival amongst children. At an event held exclusively for children at Powai area in Mumbai, one got to see outrageously creative materials used to create very very convincing Ganpati idols. Amongst other things, I saw dried nuts, pinecone, jute twine and woven leaves. Traditionally, Ganpati idols are brought home for various durations depending on the choice/convenience of the devotee. So the perishable material can be used for the idols worshipped for shorter durations, and the more sturdy idols can be used for the longer tenure of worship.
Scaling It Up
The annual “Eco Ganesh Festival” is an ambitious project of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board that was handled by Navsamvedana Foundation, Shashwat Eco Solutions and EGanesh this year. Padmakar Shirsat from Navsamvedna shared with us updates on this project where the sole agenda is to give training of ‘Eco friendly Idol Making’. The session was held in July this year. Shirsat handles the group”Eco Friendly Ganesha” on social networking website Facebook and actively shares updates on activities and information. In July this year, Navsamsedana also organised their Eco Ganesha workshop at the Chicago Convention organised by the Bruhan Maharashtra Mandal. The workshop focuses on hand-creating the idol for worship using natural clay that is environmentally friendly and easy to use. Interestingly, Shirsat has also organised workshops in prisons and women’s shelters as the skill can easily be used for a livelihood.
Strong Voice of Reason
Another part of the country is not far behind. A lot of awareness about responsible celebrations is being propagated by a group called “Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness”. The city co-ordinator PV Ramdas shared with us, “I strongly believe that any pollution to this environment is intolerable. When you look into the celebration of Ganesha Festival in recent years you will agree with me that the Ganesha Idols for the festival is made of Plaster of Paris (POP) with inorganic chemical colours. These POP idols with chemical colours are very harmful to the marine creatures and most of the time these poor creatures die because of these harmful substances when these idols immersed in pond or lake or any water resources. We have no rights to harm these creatures living in the nature. So I strongly believe that the celebration of Ganesha festival in eco-friendly manner should be shared with the public.” For more information on CMCA’s activities and agenda you can browsewww.cmcaindia.org.
