Indore (Madhya Pradesh)
The city is abuzz with excitement as after a gap of two years, the 10-day Ganesh Chaturthi festival is going to be celebrated without any restrictions from Wednesday.
The pandals have been decorated with lights and buntings and last minute preparations are going on to welcome Ganpati Bappa on Wednesday. On Tuesday, women are going to stay awake throughout the night to perform Hartalika Pooja. All Ganesh temples have been decorated and the idols of Lord Ganesh have been adorned with jewellery items.
Hundreds of temporary shops have sprouted all over the city selling Ganesh idols, and most of them are crowded with people buying Ganesh idols according to their taste and budget. With awareness about the environment increasing, many people are going in for Ganesh idols made of clay even though they are more expensive than those made from PoP. Idols made of cow dung, embedded with plant seeds are more popular. The price of clay idols ranges from Rs 50 to Rs 5000. The wooden thrones for Lord Ganesh range from Rs 300 to Rs 1200. A wide variety of fancy decoration and jewellery items for the idol are also for sale.
Celebration at Khajrana Temple
The temple will be decked up and Ganesh’s idol will be adorned with gold ornaments worth Rs 2 crore. The idol will be worshipped by collector, Manish Singh, at 10 am on Wednesday. IMC commissioner Pratibha Pal will also be there. Proper arrangements have been made for devotees so that they can worship Lord Ganesh for the next 10 days without any hindrance. Due to the festival of Haritalika Teej on Tuesday, a large number of women and girls will perform ‘jagaran’ throughout the night, and therefore the temple will remain open night long.
