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Lord Ganesha given a warm farewell
Mumbai, Sept 09: After enjoying a 10-day blissful hospitality of his devotees on earth, the popular deity, Lord Ganesh today bid adieu to lakhs of his devotees amidst the traditional grandeur and tight police security.
Mumbai, Sept 09: After enjoying a 10-day blissful
hospitality of his devotees on earth, the popular deity, Lord
Ganesh today bid adieu to lakhs of his devotees amidst the
traditional grandeur and tight police security.
In Mumbai, over 20,000 police personnel and 2000 traffic
officials dotted the roads as the streets brimmed over with
euphoric devotees, who danced to the jingles of the rustic
`Lezim` and chants of `GANPATI bappa morya, pudhchya varshi
lavkar ya`, imploring Ganesh to remember his promise to visit
earth on his annual sojourn next year.
All the major roads leading to the main immersion points, including Juhu Beach, Chowpatty, Shivaji Park, were put under strict hawk-eyed vigil of the police which ensured a smooth communication with each other through use of walkie-talkie and cell phones. Devotees with vermilion sprinkled over their foreheads and wearing the saffron bandanas danced to some of the remix bhajans. The divine march also took a commercial tone as some of the specially hired bands played some film music to match the jocund mood.
Early this afternoon, smaller idols of households made their way to the water-front paving way for the bigger idols later in the day. The city which has nearly 3,500 sarvajanik mandals witnessed an air of festivity with loud music, colourful buntings and the gay spirit of Mumbai dominated the mood and tone of the day. Nearly 18 roads in the city were blocked exclusively to ensure the smooth movement of devotees to the water bodies while 24 roads were transformed into one-way traffic to avoid stampedes and chaos.
At Girgaum Chowpatty, one of the main immersion points, a special watch tower has been set up to monitor the movement of the crowd. Various lifeguards have also been pressed into service to keep a watch for inebriated devotees.
Special fishing trawlers have also been made available to enable devotees to place ferry bigger idols to deep waters for immersion while at various other places volunteers have also chipped in to aid devotees with immersion and providing drinking water and first aid. In Pune, the cultural capital of Maharashtra, the procession to bid farewell to Ganapati Bappa started this morning amid tight police security with city mayor Dipti Chowdhury garlanding the Tilak statue in Mandai and the `Gramdaivat` Kasba Ganapati near Mahatma Phule market.
The first Ganapati to lead the procession was `Sri Kasba Ganapati` followed by `Tambdi Jogeshwari`, `Guruji Talim`, `Tulshibaug` and `Kesari Maratha`, the five together known as `Manache Ganapati`.
The city of Pune has special significance as it is from here that the concept of sarvajanik (community) Ganeshotsav was started by the Lokmanya Tilak.
About 40 lakh people witnessed the immersion. In the backdrop of bomb blasts in Mumbai, recovery of bombs in Solapur and the stampede at Kumbh Mela, the police imposed a total ban on bursting of fire crackers, official sources said.
The entire Laxmi Road, the main passage for the procession, was beautifully decorated with `Rangoli`. About three tons of Rangoli, one ton of gulal and nearly 300 kgs of colours were used to decorate the road. The traffic police had closed 14 arterial roads for traffic in the city area, the sources added.
Bureau Report
All the major roads leading to the main immersion points, including Juhu Beach, Chowpatty, Shivaji Park, were put under strict hawk-eyed vigil of the police which ensured a smooth communication with each other through use of walkie-talkie and cell phones. Devotees with vermilion sprinkled over their foreheads and wearing the saffron bandanas danced to some of the remix bhajans. The divine march also took a commercial tone as some of the specially hired bands played some film music to match the jocund mood.
Early this afternoon, smaller idols of households made their way to the water-front paving way for the bigger idols later in the day. The city which has nearly 3,500 sarvajanik mandals witnessed an air of festivity with loud music, colourful buntings and the gay spirit of Mumbai dominated the mood and tone of the day. Nearly 18 roads in the city were blocked exclusively to ensure the smooth movement of devotees to the water bodies while 24 roads were transformed into one-way traffic to avoid stampedes and chaos.
At Girgaum Chowpatty, one of the main immersion points, a special watch tower has been set up to monitor the movement of the crowd. Various lifeguards have also been pressed into service to keep a watch for inebriated devotees.
Special fishing trawlers have also been made available to enable devotees to place ferry bigger idols to deep waters for immersion while at various other places volunteers have also chipped in to aid devotees with immersion and providing drinking water and first aid. In Pune, the cultural capital of Maharashtra, the procession to bid farewell to Ganapati Bappa started this morning amid tight police security with city mayor Dipti Chowdhury garlanding the Tilak statue in Mandai and the `Gramdaivat` Kasba Ganapati near Mahatma Phule market.
The first Ganapati to lead the procession was `Sri Kasba Ganapati` followed by `Tambdi Jogeshwari`, `Guruji Talim`, `Tulshibaug` and `Kesari Maratha`, the five together known as `Manache Ganapati`.
The city of Pune has special significance as it is from here that the concept of sarvajanik (community) Ganeshotsav was started by the Lokmanya Tilak.
About 40 lakh people witnessed the immersion. In the backdrop of bomb blasts in Mumbai, recovery of bombs in Solapur and the stampede at Kumbh Mela, the police imposed a total ban on bursting of fire crackers, official sources said.
The entire Laxmi Road, the main passage for the procession, was beautifully decorated with `Rangoli`. About three tons of Rangoli, one ton of gulal and nearly 300 kgs of colours were used to decorate the road. The traffic police had closed 14 arterial roads for traffic in the city area, the sources added.
Bureau Report