Ganesha festival aftermath-photos of destruction
I spotted a huge Ganesha idol being taken out from Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad last Sunday. Apparently it was immersed in the lake after Ganesha Chaturthy festival and what you see below is aftermath of the festival.
The idol was really huge, made from plaster of paris with steel reinforcement. The idol which was worshipped by hundreds of people for 7 odd days was being brutally destroyed by works who wanted to gain some scrap value out of it and clean the mess.
At first, what came to my mind was why can’t we reuse this component (Ganesha idol)? (IT influence you see!) I.e. why are we creating this idol every year, dispose them off few days later and re create from scratch again next year? After the festival why cant we preserve the idol and use it again next year? Will the annual maintenance expense (of preserving this idol for one year) be more expensive than new idol? I’m not sure.
But on second thought, I realized that such a practice (of reusing the idol) would defeat the very purpose of having festivals. One of the main reasons why our ancestors designed the concept of festivals under various pretext is that money should circulate within the society.
Several sections of the society who make a living by selling products/services not so critical for day to day living (toy makers, artists, craftsmen etc) make money only during festival seasons when people buy their products/services due to festival. In other words, there’re people who make a living by selling Ganesha idol and such people need to be supported by the society by buying idols every year… So cost cutting strategies will have severe social implications here…
By afternoon they had got gas cutters on the spot and were almost done with their work...
There goes story of an idol...
Also see: Durga Pooja festival in Kolkata *
The idol was really huge, made from plaster of paris with steel reinforcement. The idol which was worshipped by hundreds of people for 7 odd days was being brutally destroyed by works who wanted to gain some scrap value out of it and clean the mess.
At first, what came to my mind was why can’t we reuse this component (Ganesha idol)? (IT influence you see!) I.e. why are we creating this idol every year, dispose them off few days later and re create from scratch again next year? After the festival why cant we preserve the idol and use it again next year? Will the annual maintenance expense (of preserving this idol for one year) be more expensive than new idol? I’m not sure.
But on second thought, I realized that such a practice (of reusing the idol) would defeat the very purpose of having festivals. One of the main reasons why our ancestors designed the concept of festivals under various pretext is that money should circulate within the society.
Several sections of the society who make a living by selling products/services not so critical for day to day living (toy makers, artists, craftsmen etc) make money only during festival seasons when people buy their products/services due to festival. In other words, there’re people who make a living by selling Ganesha idol and such people need to be supported by the society by buying idols every year… So cost cutting strategies will have severe social implications here…
By afternoon they had got gas cutters on the spot and were almost done with their work...
There goes story of an idol...
Also see: Durga Pooja festival in Kolkata *
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