GANPATHI GOES PLASTIC..?

Mumbai is certainly unity in diversity .Yes readers, we are UNITED. We may have riots because some of us feel that we do not get enough attention, after all, we are ONLY a population of 20 million and everyone’s voices have to be heard, everyone’s body odour has to be smelt, like we do in the over stuffed trains, and we may possibly have a few bombings-purely for religious purposes aimed at the greater good of course, we want everyone to have a good afterlife :D, but in the face of danger-or to put it more bluntly, in case we have a chance to create chaos-look at it any way you want- we ARE UNITED!. No doubt about it. We are one of those cities in the world which has slum dwellings right outside a premier apartment complex( this shows, by the way, that no matter how rich or poor our population is, we can all afford to live in Bandra or Parel), a church right next to a temple( please ignore the loud arguments amongst the owners with regards to petty, trivial issues such as who’s lord is greater-this is often a musical item, wholesale, so it serves a dual purpose the argument is not just an argument, but also a wake -up call in the mornings and in the evenings, a way to scare the pigeons sitting on the roof tops, - apart from such miniscule matters they coexist peacefully), and all of us, whether we are driving a BMW or a bullock cart(told you we were diverse) , are stuck in the same traffic jam because some idiot mumbaikar (we do have the stereotypical characters in our clan-the idiots, the pompous rich brats, the goody goods..you get the drift..) has decided to leave his car in the middle of the road while he is off shopping for fruits sold on the pavement.
Our unity is seen from time to time. One such time that comes once every year and lasts for nearly two weeks(yes two weeks! Two long weeks of traffic jams and chants that not only sing praises of the great lord, but also subtly praising the sponsers of the parade- usually a political party…more on this later). Yes..you hit the nail, it is indeed the ganapathi festival!
Of course, the ganapathi festival in Mumbai was of huge help when the innocent Tilak REVIVED( not STARTED , please note. I tell you this becuase I have lost marks in history when I wrote STARTED instead of REVIVED and do not wish that you experience the same) them to create unity amongst the mumbaikars, which was an added bonus in the freedom movement. However, now, nearly eighty years down the line, it has served it’s initial purpose, but is still being celebrated with vigour ( perhaps a huge understatement, but I shall not waste too many precious words on that) and is enjoyed by many.
And why wouldn’t it be? We all know Ganapthi is a favourite amongst the people ( as my eleven year old sister puts it- he’s soo cute!!!) and let’s get real here, we all enjoy the fat laddus and modaks that we can gorge on, under the excuse that it is ‘Prasad’.
For those who reside outside Mumbai and do not know the extents to which this festival goes to, I shall outline briefly what it is like. The entire festival lasts for about ten days during which each home keeps an idol ( of varying sizes, and usually each year the size gets bigger and bigger, one wonders how the Ganapathis which are five feet tall are carried up seven flights of stairs, but hey, whatever it takes!), of the lord, decorated beautifully and surrounded by sweets. Others come to view this Ganapathi- to seek his blessings.
But this does not stop here, let me assure you . Very often, there are huge idols (and I must add here, that these idol do not necessarily have to be one hundred percent Ganapthi only. We now have the various avatars of Ganapathi- Ganapathi as Amitabh Bhachan, Ganapathi as Sachin Tendulkar, ganapthi as Superman..the list goes on.) sponsored by leading political parties, or trustees of large temples and the likes, which parade the streets from four o clock in the afternoon, often accompanied by loud chants (sung tunelessly, but we do tend to turn to go tone deaf during these festivals) not only about the lord (which is perfectly acceptable) but also about the sponser of that particular Ganapathi. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.
However, this is all very nice, but as it is said, every silver cloud DOES indeed have a grey lining. The grey lining here is that many of these Ganapathis’ have plastic decorations stuck onto them, or perhaps they are dressed in plastic itself. As all of us have been told in the seventh standard, PLASTIC IS NOT BIO DEGRADABLE. To put it in normal, understandable terms, it does not break down. Once plastic is made, it cannot be destroyed and remade. So when the ganapthi is left to drift and dissolve in the sea, what the people do not know is that some part of it never dissolves. Those bulbs surrounding the Ganapathi, for instance. Or the jewellary ganapthi is adorned with. They just remain in the sea, and pollute the sea as they are not do not belong in the sea. And as we all know, blue seas do not exist in Mumbai anymore, thanks to the 20 million population. Nope, our seas are BLACK.
So every year, hundreds of innocent mumbaikars unknowingly(or perhaps some do know, but do not care enough) pollute our sea further. Traffic is manageable, the noise is pardonable. But polluting our environment is neither of the two.
I ask you. With our climate changing darastically, our seas become blacker and blacker. And for Mumbai, at least, the sea has always been special, has always been something we Mumbaikars have been proud of. So why are we willing to slowly pollute our beautiful sea, for the sake of plastic lights and jwelllery? Ganapathi will bless us even if we do not have large bulbs flashing around him. Our parents were brought up with purely mud ganapthis, and they turned out fine. I could try to convince you further and support my argument with statistical figures, but I do not feel the need to do so. We are all educated individuals here, and we all are MORE than aware about plastic and the problems that arise due to it.
So next time you’re out Ganapthi shopping, take an eco friendly step, buy a fully mud ganapthi. Believe me, when you realize that there is a sea left for your children to see ( not sure about the colour, but that is an entirely different issue), you won’t regret compromising on some bulbs and a few chains for your Ganapthi :)
Since we are united on so many levels, let this be a level too.