So, well. I wasn't going to do this.. Sitting bored to death in a car for about 1.5 hours for a half an hour journey made me change my mind..
Most of my posts are flavored with religion bashing, none so much as this one..
Ganesh Chaturthi.. A festival.. A nuisance..
Don't get me wrong, his holiness might be a great god, Im sure he answers everyone's prayers, well when he has the time anyway.. Its his followers i have a problem understanding. So fine, most of them are uneducated and have no inkling about the destruction they bring about to the ecosystem with every 'visarjan'. What about the inconvenience caused to motorists and other commuters?
Did you know that pre 1893, Ganesh chaturti was mostly a family affair? Tilak made it a social occasion in order to unite the lower classes of society with the higher snobs like the brahmins. Mission accomplished.. Today, in rural areas, lower classes live in harmony with upper classes.. Umm not really.. but well he tried anyway..
lets look at how this festival affects our future shall we?
Modern ganpati idols are made mostly of plaster of paris and take much longer to dissolve than the traditional clay (duh) the use of which has now been abandoned..
Colors used to paint these idols contain numerous heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, lead, carbon and cadmium which mix with the water making it not so drinking friendly.. (I may be wrong about that, a while back people resorted to drinking water from mahim creek claiming God turned the water sweet.. Heavy metal poisoning anyone?)
Dumping heavy metals into water bodies also causes the death of life in the areas concerned. Hundreds of dead fish are washed ashore after each immersion..
As for the people indulging in the immersion for the religious aspect of it, have ANY of you gone back the next day? I have.. a walk on the beach the day after the last day of immersion turned out to be like a walk through an obstacle course.. There was a man sweeping, yes SWEEPING half dissolved (and in some cases complete) ganpati idols into small little piles everywhere.. (for pics, go here http://www.ultrabrown.com/posts/the-battle-of-kurukshetra)
The solution:
well, not polluting water bodies is simple.. Dont use an idol made of POP.. or clay. Use a metal one. Reusable every year..
Im just sorry there's no solution yet for the unnecessary sound pollution.. I mean if people think that its in their culture to dance on roads, burst crackers that cost more that most people earn in a month and just be obnoxious pricks on the roads by blocking them, far be from me to try and go and stop them..
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