Ganesh Chaturthi ending

Was getting a bit tired of hearing all the "Ganpati Bappa Mouriya" shouting and experiencing all the traffic jams caused by the big Ganpati's erected on roads, but today was the last day of the festival when the Ganesh idol was taken from the house or the shrine and immersed in water.

Ganesh idol in a makeshift shrine

When I first heard of this I thought the Maharashtra coast must be littered by thousands of Ganesh idols but then I learned that these idols dissolve in water. There is also strict rules of using nature friendly materials and paints when making the idols.

A family preparing the idol

As all were quite busy onboard, I took alone a few hours off in the afternoon and went with our driver nearby Seawoods Darave to a water tank to see how the immersion ritual was taking place. As I have seen with all hindu rituals it is a complex process with a lot of chanting, clapping, cymbals, flowers and incense burning, but then again, if I'd been born a hindu I would probably think all of it as part of life.

Ganesh Chaturthi processions video

Soon enough when I had seen the ritual I headed back to the ship as people were starting to come out with all their Ganesh idols and downtown Mumbai was totally congested, better to stay onboard and watch the festivities on the news channel.