Not everybody, however, is willing to let the days pass without festive colour. (File)IT IS that time of the year when everybody should be busy with Ganesh puja in their homes and residential societies: there is modak to be made or ordered; coloured paper and flowers to be folded into decorations; rangoli, art, music, and dance skills to be fine-tuned for competitions; special dishes to be planned for the community potluck. Ganeshotsav, which begins on August 22, however, will be like every other festival since the Covid-19 outbreak — quieter, smaller, and more online.
“Our housing society has more than 50 per cent senior citizens, a vulnerable segment. We have had to think a lot before deciding how to celebrate this year. We have a large hall, which is usually packed with 300 to 400 people during Ganesh puja, but as the world reels from the effect of the coronavirus, we have cancelled most celebrations. We are going to bring a small idol of Ganpati that will be placed in the office of our housing society and only five people will perform the puja every morning and evening,” said Subhash Gargote, secretary of Kendriya Vihar Co-op Housing Society, Sector IV, Moshi Pradhikaran, where the puja will be held between August 22 and 30.
In almost all residential societies, elaborate cultural festivities, including games for children and get-togethers, have been cancelled. “Though we live together in flats, festivals such as Ganesh puja are the only time entire families get together to celebrate. Children, especially, are disappointed because the year has been confusing and difficult for them,” said a resident of Nagras Road.
In housing societies where the aarti will be publicly held, only five to 10 people will be present at a time while wearing masks and maintaining distance. Hand sanitiser dispensers and security guards, who will be keeping a check on people without masks, are part of the new normal.
“We have never missed a Ganesh puja since our society was established seven years ago. One of the highlights of our celebration was the fanfare with which we welcomed the idol and bid farewell. This time, it will be a small idol and the visarjan will be in an apartment of our society,” said Manoj B Patwari of Rutuparna housing society.
Sanjeevan Sangale, secretary of Moshi-Chikali Housing Societies, said 500 of their member societies have reduced the size of the idol from 10 to 12 feet to around 4 feet. “Ganesh puja in a housing society is usually the first time a newcomer or a migrant to Pune or Maharashtra gets an idea of our biggest festival, but this year is not like every year,” he added.
Not everybody, however, is willing to let the days pass without festive colour. At Raheja Vista Premier, the residents’ welfare group has innovated with technology. A packed list of events includes drawing and essay competition as well as rangoli and tambola, among others.
“Our intention was to retain the festive mood while following government guidelines because kids are used to enjoying this time of the year, when we usually have two to three activities per day. Now, with Covid-19, it is necessary to give the community a feeling of coming together, while maintaining guidelines,” said Rohit Mahajan, one of the organisers.
The society has come up with new ideas of having online games. “Everything will be on WhatsApp. There are family games, where small tasks will be given to kids and elders and they will have to quickly do them and click pictures and send on WhatsApp. We have found innovative ways of doing the rangoli competition, where we will give out token numbers to participants and they will have to upload their designs along with the token. According to government guidelines, there will be only 10 people allowed, so two families will be going for aarti and we will do a Facebook live or Zoom call to broadcast it to others,” he added.