श्रीकान्तो मातुलो यस्य
जननी सर्वमंगला।
जनकः शंकरो देवः
तम् वन्दे कुंजराननम्॥
जननी सर्वमंगला।
जनकः शंकरो देवः
तम् वन्दे कुंजराननम्॥
Colony wide celebration of Ganesh Navarathri Utsav was
initiated in Maharashtra by Bala Gangadhar Tilak during independence movement.
The festival period was used to instil nationalistic fervour in the hearts of
native Indians. Today, Ganesh Utsav has become a tradition and is celebrated
grandly all over India. Let us look at proceedings of the festival in Hyderabad
city.
Thousands of families in Hyderabad make their living through
idol making, decorative works, erecting tents, arranging band and sound systems
during Ganesh festive season. Children and youth along with elders come
together, invest considerable amount of time to make celebrations successful.
Mothers make mouth-watering prasadams and children queuing up is routine sight.
This is the best part as it brings everyone closer by developing bondage, trust
and unity among all. This is the real essence of "Vasudaiva kutumbakam-One world
one family" which our scriptures teach us.
Having said this, we will
now look Ganesh Navarathri Utsav from the other side of the coin (from the
mother earth perspective). As we all know, earth is the only liveable
planet with limited amounts of natural resources for the ever-growing
population. We have 3/4th proportion of earth as ocean and 1/4th as land. Less
than 4% of fresh water resources are available for 7.7 billion people. Because
of rapid Industrialization and growing Urban population, we are already bearing
the brunt of water scarcity. Chennai is the first Indian metro to go completely
dry this year. Safeguarding our water bodies is the need of the hour. If we continue to immerse POP (Plaster of
Paris) Ganesha idols into water bodies, we welcome severe drinking and domestic
water scarcity, increased medical ailments owing to land, water and soil
pollution.
Hussain Sagar was once an Osman Sagar. In early 1900s,
Hussain Sagar and Osman Sagar were dug to provide drinking water to twin
cities. Now Hussain Sagar is in a pathetic condition and no one bothers about
it. Governments come and go. Political parties will continue to flood people
with irrational and false promises. Bringing Krishna and Godavari rivers,
laying pipelines to Hyderabad from hundreds of kilometres is not great deal.
After all, what all they spend is our tax rupees. To revive Hussain Sagar and such many kind of lakes in and around GHMC
should be a matter of pride for all Hyderabadis. Crores are already spent
and plenty of outstanding loans (from JICA) are sufficient now. Disastrous
situation of water bodies continues for months regardless of how much ever GHMC
tries to cover it up. Immersion of chemical made idols and floral waste will
pollute the water bodies, seepage of heavy metals like lead pollutes ground
water table, degradation of floral waste eat away dissolved oxygen (DO) and
fishes die. Finally, all solid waste
recovered is sent to Jawahar Nagar dumping yard. This way we end our festival
by causing irrevocable damage to mother earth.
To stop further deterioration, I propose the following
measures which make Ganesha's festival eco-friendlier:
1) On personal front, we should stop giving Ganesh Chanda to those
members who go for false pride and opt for POP Ganesha Idols. Time for all of
us to bring that 1% change.
2) GHMC should
provide incentives for clay Ganesha making, provide alternative employment to
the families willing to do away with idol making.
3) Ganesh Utsav
Organising committees should realise pollution concerns and should stop racing
for tallest Ganesha idols. Khairtabad Ganesha’s height to be decreased
gradually and should settle at a height where the Ganesha can be comfortably
made from clay. We must continue our traditions keeping an eye on unnecessary
humbugs.
4) All floral waste
must go to in-house composting units instead of getting dumped in water bodies.
GHMC has a live example here-TTD invites tenders for composting tonnes of
floral offerings made to Lord Venkateshwara on a regular basis.
5) Children need to
be groomed properly for that elders need to change. Sustained and continued
development is the real gift to our younger generations. To err is human, to
correct is more human!
Celebrate
eco-friendly clay Ganesha !!
Wishing you all Happy
Ganesh Chathurthi !!!
