Updated on: 15 September, 2023 11:40 PM IST |Prith
The start of the eagerly anticipated celebration Ganeshotsav 2023 is September 19. As the day approaches, people are making their way to Dadar to shop for their beloved Bappa from all over Mumbai.
Mumbai's Dadar is a well-known location for all holiday shopping. Ganesha idols and other decorative goods have drawn shoppers from all around the city to this location. This time, an additional pulsating crowd of enthusiastic Mumbai residents can be seen in the already packed Dadar. Image Credit: Amogh Golatkar
Along with other areas of Mumbai, Dadar is a very well-liked location for purchasing Ganesha idols. The idols developed here are created by skilled idol creators with over 30 to 40 years of industry expertise. Image Credit: Amogh Golatkar
Kishore Govind Divekar (65), a self-taught murtikar, is one such idol creator. For the past 30 years, he has been creating idols for Omkar Ganesh Pratimalay, a shop that sells clay and POP Ganesha statues. Yatin Kishor Divekar, his son, has taken it upon himself to carry on his father's heritage (age 40). Yatin has also been creating idols for a while; he first became interested in them while he was in the tenth grade. Image Credit: Amogh Golatkar
Santosh Nirvan (53) of Atharva Arts, who solely sells environmentally friendly idols in Dadar, is another idol vendor there. He doesn't produce idols personally, but he assists Mahesh Trimbak Kadam, his son-in-law, who has been producing idols for 27 years, in selling them. Image Credit: Amogh Golatkar
Yatin and Nirvan both emphasise the cultural importance of Ganesh Chaturthi to the people of Dadar. Both claim that devotees who have been welcoming Bappa into their homes for years favour traditional styles and dislike significant alterations to their idols. Contrarily, many people today want their idols to be more modern, animated, or cinematic. Image Credit: Amogh Golatkar
One of the main attractions during the celebration is the decor, particularly the "makar" in which the idol is put. Outside of the train station, in Dadar market, shoppers can discover vivid home decor items. For the past 27 years, the'makar' maker Hardev Arts has been meeting the needs of its clients in an environmentally sustainable way. Image Credit: Amogh Golatkar
Hardev Arts uses environmentally friendly materials instead of thermocol and plastic, which are still commonly used as decor. These materials include cardboard, textiles, and nets. Six months before the festival, they begin building the constructions, and two months before Ganesh Chaturthi, they put them for sale. This year, Hardev Arts has created a variety of new designs that are interesting to look at. Image Credit: Amogh Golatkar
