Ganesha Chaturthi (गणेश चतुर्थी) is the Hindu festival celebrated in honour of the lord Ganesha,
The festival lasts for 10 days, ending on Anant
Chaturdashi (fourteenth
day of the waxing moon period).
The festival involves installing clay images of Ganesha in public pandals (temporary shrines), worshipped for ten days with different variety of herbal
leaves, plants and immersed at the end of the festival in a water (lake) along
with the Idol. This cycle was meant to represent
the cycle of creation and dissolution in Nature.
This event has given a new dynamic shape due to religious
fanatics. People have used convenient ways and means to celebrate the festival
on a commercial basis. This has popularized the production of Ganesh Idols by
using Plaster of Paris. This is a man made material, easier to mould, lighter
and less expensive than clay. This is a fact
that everyone knows that this material is insoluble in water and moreover the
chemical paints used to adorn the idols contain heavy metals like mercury and
cadmium causing water pollution due to immersion of idols.
The facts are ignored and neglected by the learned people, youth and students at large even after
repeated efforts made by environmentalists, NGO’s and other’s.
One such effort is also made by our school every year to encourage
and teach the students to enjoy and the need for celebrating an
ecofriendly festival. As a
custom the teachers celebrate the festival using a clay Ganesh and encourage them to immerse the clay
idols at school. The dissolved clay is back into the soil and the Patri(Leaves)
is sent to the school compost pit.
It’s an appeal to parents also to encourage this tradition to
safe guard our water and plant resources.
