Ganesh is everyone’s favourite

Lord Ganesh is a pan-India favourite. People across communities who have made Pune their home, professed their love for arguably India’s favourite god.

For instance, even if Ganeshotsav is not a big festival in north India, communities from there residing in Maharashtra celebrate the festival with gusto.

Harminder Ghai, president of the Poona Camp Sikh Association, called Ganeshotsav “everybody’s festival”. “The Sikh community loves the festival. We celebrate it with a lot of enthusiasm, be it at home, in housing societies or offices. The festival is particularly special because it helps bonding between various communities,’’ he said.

Sindhis celebrate the festival in a big way as well. Radhika Jaising, committee member of Sadhu Vaswani Mission’s youth wing, Bridge Builders, said Sindhis celebrate it in the same manner as Maharashtrians.

“The festival heralds the beginning of the auspicious festival season, as Navratri, Dassera and Diwali follow. My family has been celebrating the festival by bringing a Ganesh idol home for the past 35 years. We have a lot of get-togethers with family and friends during the festival, where we play a lot of games. We also have kirtan sessions during this time. We make one sweet dish every day and also offer khara prasad like matri and chakli to Ganeshji,’’ said Jaising.

Harsha Shah, chairperson of the Railway Pravasi Group and a practising Jain said, “For Jains, Ganesh Chaturthi falls on the eighth day of the Jain festival of Paryushan, which is known as the Samvatsari Parv. As Lord Ganesh is revered within the community and is worshipped before the start of any auspicious occasion, the Jains, including Marwaris and Gujaratis, celebrate the festival with a lot of gusto. Some even keep Ganesh idols at home.’’

In the east, although Ganeshotsav is not officially celebrated, Ganeshji gets prime importance in every puja. Prabhat Mukherjee, member of Dishari, a Bengali association in Pune said, “It is Durga Maa who comes foremost for us. But when we worship her during Durga Puja, Ganeshji is also worshipped with zeal.’’

Shanta Dutta, another member of the association said,  “On our new year on April 14, we start our year with Ganesh puja. In November, there is a special day when Ganeshji is worshipped. All offerings made on this day are yellow. The festival is now also popular in West Bengal due to migration of people and also due to its portrayal in movies.’’

In the south, the festival is not celebrated on a large scale. Malayalees do not celebrate it separately. According to Babu Nair, PCMC corporator and Malayalee Association member, “For us, Ganesh festival comes along with Onam, when there are 10 days of celebrations anyway.’’

President of Poona Keralayee Samaj, Rajgopalan Nair said, “Malayalees do not have a separate puja for Ganesh Chaturthi, but we celebrate it as we reside in Maharashtra and it is a big festival here.’’