How We Bhopali Celebrate Our Own Ganesh Utsav

Ganesh Utsav is mainly said to be a festival of Maharashtra but as we're Bhopalis, we make everything we get our own. Welcome back to Rains of Bhopal. On this overcast eve of Ganesh Chaturthi, have a read to this post about how Bhopal has customized Ganesh Chaturthi to the size of its own.

New Market Ki Jhanki :D

The first Ganesh mandap (or jhanki) we all like to visit as soon as its Ganesh Utsav is the one in front of New Market's SBI. The traders association of New Market makes up to a very eye catching jhanki of Lord Ganesh which we have been loving since our childhoods. There's also a mini fair where we as kids loved to enjoy.

Phool/ Kaaju Kishmish Badaam/ Pattiyo Wale Ganpati Ji

The variety of jhankis all over the city always tend to attract people's attraction. There are several kinds of innovative Ganesh idols at different jhankis. I've seen the idols fully made of flowers, dry fruits, leaves, waste paper and even wood. There's just one rule, you've got to look better than your neighbourhood jhanki.

Aunty Chanda Dedo! :P

I don't know whether many of you have experienced this but those who have been organizing these jhankis have to go through a lot of pain asking for chanda (donations) for preparing a jhanki, idol, prasad (seet offerings) and bhandaara.The feeling of getting rejected is even more weird by hey! It's always fun.

Mera Beta To Bilkul Ganpati Lag Raha hai ^_^

If you give pain to your brain nerves and remember, you must have got this compliment at least once in your life at the time of Ganesh Utsav. Bhopali moms be like their child is the Ganesh of their world and he's (sorry girls) going to protect them of whatever bad comes their way!

Bhai City Me 1000 Killo Ke Ganpati Baithe Hain! 

You must have had friends in your primary school who always kept boasting about the size and weight of the Ganesh idol from their street. Everyone loved their street's Ganesh as much as they love their family. Probably that's why we say "agle baras tu jaldi aa". :)

Prempura Ghaat

Finally when the day of bidding farewell to ganpati comes, we all get a promise from him that he'll return the next year and he always keeps his word. The prempura visarjan ghaat gets filled with families from all over the city who go there to respectfully drain their idols into the water.

So this is all in this quick post. Share your Ganesha Utsav experiences in the comments section below. We always love to hear from you. We'll come back soon with another post with pictures of some of the popular jhankis of this year.