As the city moves closer to Ganesh visarjan, one will surely see longer queues at mandals as crowds rush for a last darshan of the elephant-headed deity. The last prayers will be said, wishes given, flowers put and prasad partaken. Soon, it will be time to say farewell as Lord Ganesh is taken to various beaches and water bodies across cities.

One must remind revellers, devotees and mandal organisers that their responsibility does not end with the visarjan. To all at the beaches of the city, one has to make a special, concerted effort to keep the sands clean. Overall, Mumbai does not have a great record of its beaches. Often, we see hordes of rubbish on the sands and in the sea, plastic and debris floating around. Then, we have sporadic clean-up operations which start with zeal but are unable to last and often lack in consistency.