I don't miss festivals like Ganeshotsav at all

Ganapati festival or Ganeshotsav was recently concluded in India. It is a very big festival in Maharashtra from where I come. As a kid and part of my teenage years, I was actively involved in this festival. Like most of the kids, I also enjoyed dancing during visarjan processions, singing aartis (devotional songs), shouting slogans, etc. But as I grew older and saw the real face of these festivals, observed what goes on behind the scenes, how much inconvenience it causes to people, and how much waste of resources it results, I ultimately understood its impact on the environment. I was shocked and I got disconnected from all these types of festivals. In our neighborhood, there were two major festivals Ganapati festival and Durga pooja, I have stayed away from my hometown for the last 12 years, but I never felt their absence in the last 12 years or so, rather I really feel happy that I don't have to witness all that nonsense which was carried out in name of these festivals. When I was in Pune, it really made me angry and resulted in a lot of frustration to watch all these things happening right in front of my eyes. Before anyone jumps to any conclusions let me also mention that I know that some celebrate these festivals in a very simple and private manner with utmost care not to hurt the environment around them, and I am not talking about these people. These are honorable exceptions, but I am talking about the majority, especially these public mandals who want to create some facade to display their bhakti and devotion. I am against this grand display of anything at public inconvenience, using public money, be it some political rally, religious ceremony, or anything. Why do people feel the need to demonstrate their love or devotion in a way that can result in tremendous inconvenience to others and a waste of resources? Even during some marriage processions in India music is too loud, people dance like crazy, and they block the traffic for no reason, it is good to know that they have some rules and regulations now to control all this nonsense, I hope they are implemented strictly.

I am sure there are ways to express devotional or religious feelings peacefully or in a manner that won't cause any inconvenience to others. I would love to be a part of such celebrations. I understand that community gatherings and celebrations are an important part of our social life. But somehow people don't like such peaceful ways, in the name of culture or religion or tradition they want to follow the rituals that have very little concern about their surroundings or about people who don't want to be part of that particular event. Many people feel inconvenienced due to chaos and noise pollution due to these festivals, but very few date to object. The problem is any objection results in some kind of law and order situation, the celebrating group claims that their religious feelings are hurt, and many times this results in communal tension. This is why almost all governments prefer to ignore these things and allow them to continue. For me, it was really torture to watch these things, I always wondered how those loud songs or excessive lighting, crazy dancing and shouting, and hooliganism while collecting donations for these festivals display the feeling of devotion in any way. Why do these people fail to think about infants and senior people who might suffer because of the loud noise that their speakers are making? Why do they fail to understand that it is not proper to block the road to raise tents and cause inconvenience to hundreds of commuters every day? Why do many of them insist on immersing those idols in the sea, river, or pond even after knowing that it causes water pollution? There are many questions like this, and I am glad that now there are many people who are raising these questions. I am also happy to see that some are working towards persuading people to donate these idols rather than immersing them in water. There is no doubt that all these festivals need serious reforms, they need to adapt to the needs and requirements of the current era, no matter from which religion they belong. But I know that it is not easy and is not going to happen so soon as many people want to continue with these things without any concern about others around them or about the environment. I am glad that I am away from all this. I wish all the best to all the people who are working hard to reform these traditions, they are really doing a very difficult and important job, and I salute them. I don't miss Ganeshotsav or any other festival celebrated in a way to cause inconvenience to others. I am more than happy to stay away from these things. But I still feel sad to see the wastage of resources and really hope that these reformist people will be able to convince the government to implement some laws that can minimize the effect of such behavior on the environment and reduce the inconvenience of people.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright : Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav - is it serving the purpose?

Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav or Ganapati festival is a public festival celebrated in different parts of India in honor of Ganapati (or Ganesh, a Hindu God). This festival is very popular in Maharashtra, and it is celebrated in many homes privately as well as by various mandals publicly (mandals are public trusts that collect money and celebrate festivals like this). Public Ganesh festival or Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav as it's popularly known was started sometime in the 1890s by one of the Indian freedom movement leaders Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak. His intention was to unite people from diverse groups, enhance their social belonging, and instill a feeling of patriotism while celebrating the festival. His aim was also to promote the dream of Indian independence and home rule. According to me celebrating a public festival in this manure was a great idea to educate and unite the masses for some common cause. During those times, under British rule, people were prevented from gathering in large numbers, so the public celebration of this festival gave people and their leaders a unique opportunity to gather together and share their ideas without inviting the wrath of concerned authorities.

This was all fine during the pre-independence era or even a few decades after independence. Festivals like this provided a much-needed occasion for social interaction on a large scale, but we see a very different picture altogether today. The way this festival is celebrated today is totally different than the way it was started. Public education or spreading awareness is hardly a motive today behind celebrating this festival. I know that things change with time and different generations look at things differently but this festival has undergone drastic changes in a bad way. Except few honorable exceptions, most mandals celebrate this festival for the sake of public show-off. Their main aim is to celebrate it as lavishly as possible by using public donations with hardly any noble motive behind it.  The collected money is wasted on useless activities. Also, the use of loudspeakers creates a lot of noise pollution in that area creating discomfort to elderly people and young kids who are sensitive to loud noise, While collecting donations for this festival many mandals forcibly extract money from many business owners who oblige under pressure to avoid any unpleasant scenario. Many mandaps (pavilions in which idols and decorations are installed) are erected in such a way that they interfere with traffic and create inconvenience to commuters.  Now, there is one mandal at each corner of the street, so instead of uniting people this festival today is dividing people. Every neighborhood wants its own mandal and there is fierce competition among them to collect donations and have grand celebrations. During Ganapati visarjan day, thousands of idols, big and small, are immersed in lakes, ponds, wells, rivers, and sea. Many of these idols are made of plaster of paris and use synthetic colors, immersing so many idols in streams creates a lot of water pollution and puts additional stress on our environment. These all are very serious issues and we need to address them properly, many other festivals are also celebrated publicly, which also create more or less the same issues and most importantly nowadays these festivals divide people, create some tension rather than bring people together. The main purpose behind celebrating these types of festivals is lost, what we see today is just a waste of money and resources in the name of God.

Unfortunately, any effort to reform anything related to such festivals is seen as direct interference in people's right to practice their religion. It hurts their religious sentiments and may result in protests and even communal riots. Because of this, it is considered a very sensitive issue and any government rarely wants to interfere in it. Despite all these things some rules related to the use of loudspeakers and the construction of mandals have been introduced. Many organizations encourage people not to immerse their idols in rivers or lakes. Actually, not all rules and regulations are followed strictly but some of these things show some positive signs and help to reduce the impact of such festivals on people and the environment.

Fights between two groups because of some trivial issue during these festivals are common. This raises an important question, whether public celebration of these festivals unites people or divides them? Are these festivals giving some people another opportunity to create communal tension or to display their strength? As I mentioned earlier celebration of festivals publicly was a very brilliant idea when it was introduced, but the current state of affairs begs the question, do we still need it in its current form? Do we really need so many mandals? Can't we have just a few limited mandals in each city and celebrate the festival without using loudspeakers that actually play totally unrelated songs at full volume? Can't we avoid all water and noise pollution just by taking a few simple steps? Is it that difficult to change the way this and many other festivals are celebrated to take care of our environment and be considerate towards people living in that area? We also need to ask, in its current form is it the same festival that Tilak started? Is it serving the same purpose for which he started this festival? Answers to all these questions may force us to introspect and come up with some major reforms.

Last year I wrote a post about Ganesh visarjan, in this post I asked some questions about the impact of this ritual on our environment. We need to ask similar questions about all these festivals and practices which put unnecessary stress on our environment and cause inconvenience to people. It doesn't matter to which religion such festivals and rituals belong, we need to introduce some major reforms for all of them. Most things related to this festival have changed, the money involved is huge, the songs they play are from current movies, and techniques used for decoration are the latest, so why not have a new eco-friendly way to celebrate the festival? What's wrong with it? Social interaction in a friendly and healthy atmosphere is always a good thing, but, are these festivals providing that atmosphere? If not, why not? We must ask such questions if we want to bring back the original spirit of this and many other festivals which seems to be totally lost in all this glitter and loud music.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:
1. Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav
2. Do we need to do Ganesh visarjan??

Do we need to do Ganesh visarjan?

Recently the world-famous Ganesh festival or Ganeshotsav was concluded in India. It's a 10-day long festival where Ganesh (or Ganapati) idols are installed in many colorfully decorated homes and specially erected temporary structures in every locality (called mandals in Maharashtra). The festival is a pretty big deal in some cities in India, like Pune and Mumbai. At the end of festival time (which varies for homes, but for mandals it's normally 10 days) thousands of Ganesh idols get immersed in rivers, lakes, or wells (a process called Ganesh visarjan). They immerse all sizes of idols, big ones, and small ones, already water in rivers is very polluted around most of the cities and this immersion process makes it more dirty and contaminated. I am putting here a few pictures of some of the rivers and lakes which show a few scenes of the day after immersion day.

The pictures are self-explanatory, this process of Ganesh idol immersion (or Durga during Navaratri) takes a lot of toll on the environment. Actually, the public Ganesh festival (which mandals celebrate and the main culprit in this process) was revived by the very famous Indian freedom fighter and social reformer Lokamanya Tilak. He made this festival into well organized annual public event, his intention was to bridge the gap between different sections of society and cultivate the feeling of togetherness in people so that they unite and participate in the freedom struggle. It was a good idea and it served its purpose, it worked really well at that time. The festival still continues from those days but in a very different form now. People celebrate in their homes as well as many public mandals but one can easily notice the changed format. I'm not at all against public celebrations of these types of festivals, they are an integral part of our social and cultural life but all festivals and their way of celebration should also change with time. We change our diet, clothing style as well as rules and customs with time so these festivals also need to change. This Ganesh visarjan process causes a lot of environmental damage. Every year few people get drowned, lot of chemicals (colors used to paint these idols), and waste (plaster of paris, plastic, and other garbage) get dumped in rivers and lakes. Already these rivers and lakes are polluted because lot of waste from city sewage and companies and these types of festivals put additional strain on them. 

People care for these idols during the festival days, and there is a lot of concern to protect them from any intentional damage, there might be a law and order situation (if someone intentionally damages the idol). However, after the visarjan people just don't care what happens to these idols, whether they get deformed or mixed with sewage and junk, they just don't care. Sounds very strange to me, it's the same God whom people worship for 10 days and then just dump it in dirty water and forget about it. I also don't understand the purpose behind having such big idols that ultimately get immersed in water after 10 days. It's a waste of resources and money in a country like India. Big Ganesh idol doesn't mean that you are a BIG Ganesh devotee. Why can't they have Ganesh pictures or small idols with natural colors or recycle the same idols every year? I know some mandals do this but still, their number is not enough to prevent environmental damage. Why can't we get rid of this visarjan process altogether or make it just a symbolic one? I know that many people (especially Ganesh devotees) won't like this proposal and will question why I am only objecting to Ganeshotsav and not other festivals. This is about all festivals that impact our environment adversely and Ganeshotsav is just one example of it, I am taking it just as an example not the only reason for festive pollution.

I think we have to look at the ways we celebrate almost all of our festivals and see how we can minimize their impact on the environment. Already we are putting enough stress on our planet and its natural resources. With time everything changes and adapts to changing environments, that is what we call evolution. Festivals should also evolve to reduce their impact on nature not to increase the burden and it is our responsibility.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

(Text Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)