Ganesha goes green with Mehndi

With two days left for the Ganesh festival to begin, artisans all over the city are giving the final touches to their Ganesh idols each of which have been sculpted in various styles and postures. The artisans have been working on the idols for the past two months.

The idols for the festival are made and decorated with great devotion every year. With eco-friendly idols being in great demand in the market, some artists use pure clay to mold the body instead of Plaster of Paris, while others try and avoid the use of paints on the deity entirely. The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi gives artists an opportunity to showcase their creativity in the form of these idols.

One pandal which stands apart from the others is the Bal Ganesh Mandal at Charkaman in Old City. This pandal does something unique every year to attract the public. This year, it has come up with the concept of eco-friendly beautification of the idol using Mehndi (henna powder), which is usually used for adorning hands and as a conditioner for hair, mixed with glue instead of toxic paints.

A total of about five-and-a-half-kg of Mehndi and 1,100 cones was used to colour, sketch and adorn the idol which is almost seven feet tall. It took 15 days to complete the work. The whole Mehndi work was done on the white idol, made of Plaster of Paris, by four young girls, who are renowned Mehndi artists of the city. They adorn the hands and legs of the brides and grooms of the families of celebrities like ministers, sportspersons (Sania Mirza) and others alike.

“We always try to do something different, and so we chose Mehendi this year. It is something that anyone can hardly think of for making a Ganesh idol. Last year, when we made a Ganesh idol entirely out of sand, we were awarded the first prize for making a completely eco-friendly Ganesh by Eenadu. The year before that, our Ganesh was made out of gold, silver and copper coins and was even showcased on Aaj Tak TV channel”, said Naveen Agarwal, a 41-year-old volunteer and designer of the Bal Ganesh Mandal.

This association also made an idol from dry fruits, a few years ago, when the home minister visited their pandal. It has also fashioned the icons of the deity with, shells, coins, peacock feathers pearls etc in the past 18 years.