Welcoming the biggest festival in India with unlimited joyous feel and smiles and celebrating with glory and charm is the real happiness is what we Indian’s love. ‘’GANPATI BAPPA MORYAAAAA- PUDHCHYA VARSHI LAVKAR YAAA’’ , the most happening line means the people here want Lord Ganesh to come back soon next year.
Ganesh Chaturthi – Since the time of leader Shivaji Maharaj this festival was started, but Bhausaheb Laxman Javale installed the first sarvajanik Ganesh murti at Keshavji Naik Chawl which is more than 125 years old. Though the story behind the Legendary Elephant headed God in which Shiva and Parvati are involved is absolutely real and one of a kind. They say Lord Ganesha is the king of all God’s. People from the corners of India visit Mumbai specially for Ganesh Chaturthi these 10 days. They worship lord from the bottom of their heart being honest and a mind full of positive thoughts. Lord Ganesh is also worshipped at Thailand, China and other few parts of the world.
This activity was also planned in the central/suburban line as well. They should continue this activity in the coming years so that the religious consistency will be there forever in India so that the coming generations would also love to celebrate this festival in a much happier way. And keeping eco-friendly things in mind I hope in coming years people will make more eco-friendly murtis for the betterment of the environment. The best part is people from all communities and religion come together to celebrate it and there is no such discrimination. This is what we love about India and its culture.
Live aarti with Hindustan Times crew and mandali- It was an honour to attend the live Ganesh aarti with Hindustan times and the team. We caught a train from Borivali at 9 am in the morning where the mandali sang devotional and spiritual aarti songs. The crew distributed Prasad and mini booklets which included Ganesh aarti. It continued till Churchgate and then we headed to C.S.T. In this busy schedule for working class or other working professionals who cannot attend aarti at their homes they may luckily witness this live aarti inside the local train. There was a different level of aura when you see a common man singing the aarti tunes inside a train and going on with a swing of rhythm. We saw people smile and enjoying the tunes of the aarti and getting mesmerized with the flow. This initiative by Hindustan Times is worth and its spreading the cultural rituals and happiness. The mandali was indeed very energetic and full of positive vibes. They sang seamlessly without worries and put up a smile on a common man’s face. It’s a very grounded and unconditional support of Hindustan Times to come up with this idea and implement it on such a larger scale with perfect planning.
Helicopter ride with Hindustan Times- The same day evening we headed at Pawan Hans, Vile Parle for a Helicopter ride to witness Mumbai darshan and Ganesh visarjan from a bird’s eye view. Needless to say the experience was out of the world. You could see beaches, Pagoda, Essel-world, the beautiful slums,the charismatic greenery above the Arabian sea. It was a 15 minute ride but each minute resulted into goose-bumps. You can now book your helicopter ride and do darshan from above during visarjan and also witness the Mumbai darshan in a lavish way. Overall we loved the concept and this initiative taken by Hindustan Times to make this festival a success and upgrade it to a much higher scale.
