Ganapati Goes Green

The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi, which involves the immersion of non-biodegradable idols in seas and lakes, does not score too many points for environment welfare. But the consciousness of being in consonance with nature is catching up with believers. In a unique venture, hollow idols of clay are being filled with sun-dried vegetarian fish feed, so when you bid farewell after worship to your small (but significant) Ganesha at the nearest lake or ocean, the clay likeness of his melts, and from inside it, food for the fish is released into the water.

Says Anand Pendharkar, wildlife biologist and head of Sprouts Environmental Trust, which is behind this novel initiative, “We started with the idea of fish food Ganapati idols as a sort of pilot project this year, but requests for the idol have been 20 times more than we’d planned. The project hashtag, #Godsavetheocean is trending. Three and half lakh people, and counting, have seen our campaign.”

Pendharkar’s Sprouts and a team from the ad agency, Ogilvy & Mather researched and helped an artisan in Nagpur develop the idol’s design. A voluntary organisation called Vidya’s women’s self-help group, Margam, is among those making these Ganeshas. Every year, Sprouts holds eco-friendly Ganapati- making workshops (like many voluntary organisations in the city now do) and also helps clean up Mumbai’s beaches after the Ganapati immersions. Pendharkar says, comically, that many people seem to think that a Ganesha under two feet tall isn’t there at all. He also claims that perceptions are changing. Rotary Club groups, doctors, and many housing societies are supportive of scaled down, eco-friendly idols.

The Ogilvy & Mather team put out a simple, captivating campaign for it. Says Srreram Athray of the ad agency, “Our brief was to keep the Ganesha design small, minimal in design and natural.”

eco-friendly idolsGanesh Chaturthi festivalimmersionMargam