As Ganesha festival leads towards conclusion, Mumbai will bid farewell to its beloved Bappa today on the occasion of Anant Chaturdashi. The city is all set to celebrate Ganesha Visarjan with high spirit as thousands of people will flood the streets to witness the visarjan yatras of well-known Ganpati pandals before they immerse the idols.
Mumbai will witness a spectaculor culmination of its biggest festival today as the grandeur and fervour of the 10-day Ganesha Chaturthi celebration will end with devotees coming together for idol immersion. Amidst the rhythmic beating of drums and the jubilant chants of 'Ganpati Bappa Morya,' the city will come alive with processions marking the farewell of Lord Ganesha. Mumbaikars will also flock Juhu Beach and Girgaon Beach to witness the immersions.
The iconic Lalbaugcha Raja will witness the final aarti at 9.30 am. According to the tradition, the Koli Community dressed in their cultural attire will perform the aarti followed by their traditional dance. The visarjan procession will leave the lanes of Lalbaug by around 12 pm and will head towards Mumbaicha Raja in Lalbaug’s Ganesh Gully will bid farewell to Bappa with their signature act spreading awareness about a social issue. After the last aarti at 8 am, the idol will be offered the iconic pushpavarsha where flowers will be showered on the huge idols and thereby commencing the visarjan yatra towards Girgaon Chowpatty.
This year, the mandal has planned a special act where Lord Shiva will address the devotees on a social issue.
“We were the first Mandal in Mumbai to offer pushpavarsha to the idol as a form of bidding adieu to our beloved bappa. From last year, we have started performing 10-minute acts at our main gate to address a social issue. Last year we had Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj talking to the people and this year we will have Mahadev addressing people,” said Advait Pedhamkar, joint secretary of the mandal.
The final aarti of Chinchpoklicha Chintamani will start at 9 am and the visarjan procession will start at 10 am. The procession will head towards Girgaon Chowpatty via Dattaram lad Marg, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Road, Sane Guruji Road, Bakri Adda, Saat Rasta, Anandrao Nair Road and Dr. Bhadamkar Marge Road.
“Chinchpoklicha Chintamani is known for its disciplined visarjan yatra. Like every year the visarjan yatra will be carried out in complete discipline only on the beats of aarti,” said Sandeep Parab, a spokesperson of the mandal.
While all the ganpati pandals will carry out visarjan yatras at different times throughout the day, some mandals will perform the immersion post Anant Chaturdashi. The visarjan for VP Road Police Station Ganpati will be carried out on the next day of Anant Chaturdashi to avoid traffic congestion in Girgaon. While, Andheri Cha Raja will be given a farewell on Sankashti Chaturthi according to the tradition. This year, Sankashti Chaturthi will fall on September 21.
