Rain playing damper, many defer 5-day Ganpati visarjan

Devotees who host five-day Ganpatis were in a quan dary about whether to head out for visarjan on a very rainy Tuesday. The rain waterlogged roads and triggered massive traffic snarls, and rumours on social media about the authorities discouraging visarjan did not help matters.GSB King's Circle, the richest Ganpati mandal in the city , heads out for immersion this day . Trustee R G Bhat was keeping tabs on the weather report, police and BMC alerts. “We will not venture out till the water recedes. The roads in Sion-Matunga are flooded.We travel to Girgaum Chowpatty for visarjan and the situation is similar across the city . We will consult our spiritual guru on steps to take in case we are delayed,“ he said.In Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, Ramdas Walunj, whose fiveday Ganpati is immersed off Palm Beach Road, was in a predicament. “The roads are waterlogged and traffic is clogged, but we must go, there is no option. I have four brothers, and normally the entire family attends visarjan. Today , even rickshaws are not available, so my brothers are unable to come over. I have a car, but it can accommodate only five; the extended family won't be able to accompany us.“Vinod Satpute of Keshavji Naik chawl in Girgaum, which is celebrating its 125th Ganeshotsav, said not a single Ganpati was seen leaving the precinct for visarjan. “Fewer households immerse their idols on the fifth day as compared to the one-and-a-half-day or sevenday festivities, but still the numbers are vast. It is sad to see people waiting for the water to recede before they head out,“ said Satpute.The fifth day of Ganeshot sav is also important since it marks the arrival of Gauri in the home. Some families bring out the masks they have stored from the previous year and perform puja at home. Some lead new idols in procession.In Vasai, women of the Diwanman Sarvajanik Gauri Utsav Mahila Mandal in Diwanman brought the Gauri idol amid rain on Tuesday . This is the 45th year the women, most wearing identical saris, have been hosting Gauri. They take turns to carry the idol on their head over the 15-km stretch to reach the mandal.Some mandals in Thane deferred immersion and performed puja instead. “ As the hours passed, the flood situation worsened. We did not want to risk taking the society Ganesh idol out in heavy rains. So we did uttar puja and moved the idol a bit. We will immerse the moorti on the sixth or seventh day ,“ said Kshitij Ware, resident of Vijay Nagari Annex.Others went ahead nevertheless. “Seeing the heavy rains, initially we had decided not to venture out. But when the showers receded to a drizzle, we quickly did the puja and left for Masunda lake to complete immersion,“ said Deepa Chitre, who lives near Nitin Company .Many with clay or paper idols decided to perform immersion at home. “This was the first year that we got Ganpati home as my family was blessed with a baby girl. Initially we had decided to do the immersion in Thane creek but as there was water-logging, we decided to immerse the clay idol at home in a bucket. We will use the mud for planting trees and the water for watering the plants,“ said Tushar Dhaigude, a Kopri resident.