Dattadri Kothur

Tree idol making workshop, BDD Chawl
You cannot be dubbed a Mumbaikar if you haven't noticed the various make-shift shops that spring up months before Ganesh Chaturthi. Here, Ganpati statues wait in rows, for the last lick of paint. A few years ago I took my kids - Vani, now 12 years, and Ammol, 10 - to a tiny place in Chimbai where our family bought a Ganpati idol. It was an experience to watch artisans work on idols. This year, it has been the tree Ganesha that everyone seems to be talking about.