Knowliz

What is Ganesh Chaturthi : As per Hindu mythology, it is a day when Lord Ganesh is believed to bestow its presence on earth for all his devotees. It is the birthday of Lord Ganesha. Though this festival is held all over India but it is more elaborate in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Public celebrations are widely popular with local communities vying each other to put up the biggest idol. Today, Ganesh Festival is not only a popular festival, it has become a very critical and important economic activity for Maharashtra. Many artists, industries, and businesses survive on this mega-event. Huge idols are made of plaster of Paris and lot of chemical are used to paint these idols.

The most serious impact of this festival on the natural environment is due to the immersion of idols made of Plaster of Paris into lakes, rivers and the sea. Traditionally, the those idol were sculpted out of earth. After worshipping it was returned back to the Earth by immersing it in a nearby water body. This cycle represented the cycle of creation and dissolution in Nature.

However, as the production of Ganesh idols on a commercial basis grew, the earth or natural clay was replaced by Plaster of Paris. Whereas plaster takes much longer to dissolve and in the process of dissolution releases toxic elements into the water body. The chemical paints used on these idols, themselves contain heavy metals like mercury and cadmium.

• Return to the traditional use of natural clay idols and immerse the idol in a bucket of water at home.
• Use of a permanent idol made of stone and brass, used every year and a symbolic immersion only.
• Recycling of plaster idols to repaint them and use them again the following year.
• Ban on the immersion of plaster idols into lakes, rivers and the sea.
• Use of other biodegradable materials to create Ganesh idols.
• Encouraging people to immerse the idols in tanks of water rather than in natural water bodies.
• Educating people about the consequences of this immersion as a competition but its impacts on our own environment.

For over 11 days the people worship these idols and do prayers. But after that these idols are just thrown into water. What happens then, nobody cares… Few pictures in this post tell you what happens afterward. Look yourself and tell me…

• Was the statues a GOD or the GOD is JUST A STATUE?
• Do they ever think what happens to the God they always worship and pray it will bring prosperity to their life?
• Do they like that God to be bulldozed?
• Do they like the God to be treated like this?
• Do they like the God be abandoned like this, dumped like this?
• Are not we polluting our own planet?
• Isn’t it time to wake up and seriously do something about it?

गणपति बाप्पा मोरिया, अगले बरस तू जल्दी आ.

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