Sixty four-year-old Rajan Jayakar following tradition of making Ganpati

For ’em, Ganesha is ever‘green’

Rajan Jayakar Sixtyfour-year-old Rajan Jayakar does not bother about which idol to buy every Ganesha festival, for he makes them on the same day. “I make the idol only on that day. In an hour or two, I am done making the Ganesha with his favourite chariot, the mouse near his feet,” said Jayakar, who is a solicitor by profession. Jayakar is one among many people who remain unfazed over the brouhaha about the eco-Ganpati festival, citing either tradition or hobby as the reasons. For over a 100 years, Jayakar’s family has lived with the tradition of making Ganpati from rice grains. “It is over 100 years before when our forefathers started to make Ganpati through rice grains. It was considered in my family that idols, for some reason, are inauspicious,” Jayakar said. Jayakar completes the process without any help or coaching. “A specific measurement of rice is taken. Once we measure it, extra rice cannot be taken. Also, no grain can be moved and the picture once laid cannot be broken,” added Jayakar. However, Damodar Pendse makes clay idols as a hobby. “Though I was an engineer by profession, my brother was an artisan and I too liked to try my hand at it,” said Pendse, who now lives a retired life. Though his ancestral home made idols of clay all along, Pendse revived the culture in Mumbai only when his children requested him to do so in the 1990s. “I enjoyed making idols in school too, so I gladly accepted the demand,” said Pendse, adding that this year, he has even helped his cousin make one. V Sangole, on the other hand, went back to making clay idols to go back to his “ancestral ways.” “Though we may have bought plaster of paris (PoP) idols once or twice, we soon moved to buying clay idols. That too did not suffice and we thought why not go back to the ancestral ways of making idols,” Sangole said. Sangole went to his native place and learnt how to make the idols from his cousins. “Now we only purchase clay and decorate Ganpati at home. It ends up being economical too, while being eco-friendly,” added Sangole.