Ganesh Festival Celebrations Inauguration presentation

Hello !

Recently we celebrated the Ganesh Chaturthi (Ganesh Festival) here in India.This is one of the most awaited festivals especially in Maharashtra (although it is celebrated with the same amount of spirit across the entire country) where we welcome home our beloved Bappa(Lord Ganesha).

This year,we,the students of MBBS II/I organised the GFC(Ganesh Festival Celebration) in our college RSCM GMC Kolhapur but with a change.

The change was- Celebrating an environment friendly Ganesh Festival.Following are the motives that we tried (and succeeded as well) to accomplish this year:

1.We were sponsored with a 4.5 ft tall Ganesha idol made up of POP(Plaster Of Paris).All of us are aware of the hazards of POP to the environment.POP idols do not melt after immersion in the water and thus persist at the water bed rendering harmful effects on the aquatic life.Thus we "DONATED"the idol to an NGO so that it can be reused.

2.We were sponsored with a small idol of 1.5 ft made up of clay(Shadochi maati)too.This clay is completely harmless and dissovles in the water on immersion.Also the colours used were natural colours which do not cause any environmental hazards.   

3.We did not use FLOWERS.Very often flowers are used to worship the Lord as a mark of our devotion.However these flowers are later on dumped on the roadsides and garbage bins and are left to decay.All this causes nuisance.Thus except for the Sthapna Puja( first puja ) we did not use any flowers.Instead we used DURVA(Cynodon dactylon).It is considered to be very auspicious and is very cheap.All the durva, used to be collected at the end of the day and were sent for composting in the college campus itself.Even the small amount of flowers used for the Sthapna Puja were sent for composting.

4.We did not use any PLASTIC or THERMOCOL for decorations.We used newspapers and tissue papers instead and created a wonderful decor.The 'Makhar'(decor surrounding the idol) was also handmade.No spray paints were used.The decor was coloured using local poster colours.

5.No DJ.In order to reduce the noise pollution occuring especially during festivals, we did not promote the use of loud music and DJ during the entire GFC.

6.Philanthropy.We donated fruits in the wards of CPR Hospital,Kolhapur to each an every patient present.Also we donated dust bins to the hospital through all the money that we gathered during the GFC.

Our idea behind this year's GFC was to celebrate the festival giving due respect to all the creations of The Almighty who share the planet with us.Also to bring before people the main reason of Ganesh Festival celebration,which is Unity amongst all of us.This is beacuse Lokmanya Tilak (a promiment revolutionary of India's struggle for independence) started the Ganesh Festival as a community festival in order to unite the Indians and help them fight for freedom against the British.

Here is the link to the presentation that we presented on the Inauguration of our GFC which was named ATHARVA 2015..Utsav Ekatecha! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PATcJzSUZwI

The presention includes our motives .

Please do watch it.