Now, Ganesha finds a home in Lucknow

The chants of Ganpati Bappa Morya, synonymous with Ganesha Utsav, are no more confined to Maharashtra, where the festival is celebrated with much pomp and show.
In Lucknow too, Ganesha Utsav celebrations have been getting bigger and better in the last couple of years. And this year, Lucknowites have not only made lavish arrangements to welcome Lord Ganesha in their homes, but are seen enjoying the festivities in a manner not typical of the region.
There's always a first time
There are many devotees in the city who are participating in Ganesha Utsav for the first time. “Since we are Bengalis, Durga Puja is the biggest festival for us, but for the first time we are celebrating Ganesha Utsav,“ says Anupam Sarkar, a bank employee. Sarkar shares that it was the wish of his children to celebrate Ganesha Utsav. “My children, who are in their teens, saw the movie Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? sometime back on television, where the actors celebrated Ganesha Chaturthi. Ever since then, they have wanted to bring Lord Ganesha in the house. And here he is. We don't know the proper rituals yet, but my kids have learnt some from the internet. We will follow those."
Homemaker Alka Srivastava has also brought home a Ganesha for the first time.“Last year I was in Mumbai during Ganesha Utsav, and the celebrations there were so lavish. As I understand, it is the biggest festival for them. So, taking help from my relatives in Mumbai over the phone, I brought Lord Ganesha home too this year. Along with a few of my close friends, I took charge of the arrangements. We will have him at our place for just three days."
Most worshippers in the city, wary of making any mistake while performing the rituals during Ganesha puja, hesitate to keep Ganesha for more than three days.Nidhika Goel, who also did a Ganesha sthapna at her home this year, like the last, did the visarjan yesterday . “A friend of mine, Dr Jyotsna, is a great devotee of Lord Ganesha, and she initiated me into this," says Nidhika.
Dr Jyotsna Mehta, a gynaecologist, is elated at how, like Nidhika, the city too is warming up to the idea of Ganesha Utsav. In fact, just as she inspired her friend, the doc was inspired by a friend of hers several years ago.“So, it has been like a Chinese whisper. Lord Ganesha is now quite popular in the North too. He has a huge fan base here,“ she says, adding “I also remember how when I used to go with my family for visarjan earlier, there used to be only two or three families, but now the number has increased manifold."
Lucknow maange more
Keeping pace with the growing popularity of Lord Ganesha in the city, sculptors have been churning out idols of the deity in large numbers. Phool Chand, a sculptor who sells Ganesha idols near IT crossing, confirms the trend, and adds, “Since the last two years, we have seen a remarkable rise in the sale of Ganesha idols during Ganesha Utsav in Lucknow. We have idols ranging between `1000 to `10,000. While earlier, only a handful of people used to buy Ganesha idols from us, this year we sold a minimum of 15 idols every day , in the run-up to Ganesha Utsav ."
Ramesh, another sculptor near Puraniya Crossing in Aliganj, says that people have also come up to him this year with demands of making personalized idols for them. “For the first time we had people coming up to us with requests of making a Lord Ganesha idol for them with their specifications. While some wanted his mice to be bigger in size, others made amendments in his tummy size.They also told us which colours to paint their idol with. Though such requests were not too many in number, they were there," he shares.
“The celebrations of Ganesha Utsav have been getting bigger in the city with each passing year. I have witnessed a 40% in crease in my sale of Ganesha idols this year," says Sujeet Kumar Patilm, another sculptor, who supplies Ganesha idols to almost all the big pandals in the city. “More than the big idols, people prefer the smaller idols as they are easy to carry at the time of sthapana and visarjan," he adds.
Ground reality
Not just idols, there's also been a increment in the number of pandals being put in the city for Ganesha Utsav in recent years.
Tracing the history of the celebrations in Lucknow, festival coordinator from Maharashtra Samaj Lucknow, Dinesh Joshi says, “We are cele brating Ganesha Chaturthi since 1925 in Lucknow, and in those days only the Maharash trians used to celebrate the festi val. But today, more that 200 or ganisations in the city install pandals and celebrate the festi val traditionally. The celebration of Ganesha Utsav have become so much more grand in recent years and media had played a big role in it."
As Sanotsh K Patil, presi dent, Alambagh Ka Raja, the pandal at Kanpur Road elabo rates, “Since six years, we have been putting up this pandal, and when we started, I was the only one in this area. But now, so many pandals can be spotted all over the city ." This year, for the day of visarjan, Patil has invited 50 artists from Maharashtra to be part of the procession.
Agrees Satish Agarwal, secretary, Shri Ganesha Prakatya Committee, and says, “This is the ninth year of our celebrations.When we began, there used to be only 3-4 pandals in the city , but now you can see them everywhere."