‘A smaller Ganpati idol means a bigger responsibility for our mandal’

This year Mumbairsquos iconic deity Lalbaughcha Raja will arrive at the pandal With Covid19 rules upending the ways of the world completely last year was lsquohistoricrsquo in an unfortunate way as Lalbaugcha Raja mandal like the others remained closed A year on a smaller sized idol will be at the mandalAn interview with Balasaheb Kamble president Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav MandalA smaller sized Lalbaugcha Raja idol will be at the pandal in SeptemberThis year as stated the murti will be four feet in height We did not have an idol last year There was no traditional celebration but we held some community service drives This year we have some leeway all according to government guidelines The Ganesh idol will be four feet high compared to the 18 feet height overall for the past few years Work on the smaller idol will begin in a few days The idol will be made in Lalbaug itself and the craftsmen will be the same as every year Kambli Arts Even within the new parameters we want to adhere as closely to tradition as we canThe pandemic has brought about changes obvious and upfront like a watereddown festival but behind the scenes as wellThe Covid19 guidelines are going to be followed through and through Whether at making stage or even during the 10day festival where our volunteers and we will have very few of them will maintain social distancing and will also enlist vaccinated volunteers A majority of them have already taken both jabsAlso read Ganpati festival Lalbaugcha Rajarsquos height to remain 4 feetBalasaheb Kamble president Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav MandalWill devotees be allowed darshan What are your guidelinesWe have been told to avoid crowdsDo define what you mean by avoiding crowds Does that mean you may have a minimum like 50 people allowed physically for darshanI do not think so As you are aware the sheer fervour of the devotees will mean that it will not take time for people to swell from 50 to 500 to 5000 We will be inclined towards online darshan only People will be encouraged to offer prayers online We are looking at several platforms like YouTube Facebook Instagram A number of television channels let us see We now have technology at our disposal and we will harness it Our plans will solidify in the next couple of days as we plan to meet on different logistics The festival will be marked differently and that means every aspect will have to be tweaked We are also looking at the offerings angle Many people want to give offerings We may have a link for online offerings let me see after we brainstorm on this these are early days yet and these factors will be consideredWhen you stress tradition we see that a lot of VIPs have been visitors to Lalbaugcha Raja From actors to politicians the spotlight has been on them when they visit Will the same rules apply to them tooYes we will also encourage online darshan for them too The same rules must apply to all and we are hopeful that everybody will follow them The accent will be on respect for restrictionsLike yours do other pandals also have permission to install a small Ganesh idolI would not know we have had a series of meetings with different agencies in the runup and got permission for the sameThe pandals usually have a social message tied in with the festivities What is the message Lalbaugcha Raja would like to disseminate this timeOur theme is My festival My responsibility Not just Ganesh Chaturthi there are so many festivals now that we move into celebration season We want to emphasize masks distancing hygiene and taking the shot This is we want we state when we talk about responsibilityLast year the Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal made a cash donation of R1 lakh each to families of police personnel that had died in the course of Covid19 duty You also donated to families of soldiers who died in the Galwan clash Any community service initiative planned this timeWe have used our funds for the previous community drives you spoke about We have no immediate plans right now but we cannot rule out anything We know help is needed as the pandemic rages on Let us see how best we can use funds we get this time