Pankaj Tripathi Reflects on Ganesh Chaturthi: A Celebration of Roots and Resilience

Notably, watching the celebrations of Ganesh Chaturthi for the first time in Mumbai has been a great new look to Tripathi’s experience of this ceremony. He can recall his daughter, “When she was young, she used to cry thinking that Bappa was going away But for me, it has become my karm bhoomi – the place which brought me closer to Ganpati Bappa. ”

This year, Tripathi is celebrating the festival rigorously by remaining at home for all the seven days of Ganesh Chaturthi which started from 7th September. He said, “Earlier, I could give only the sthapana and visarjan days because of my profession but this year I get to celebrate with family every day.” The Tripathi family feeds roughly 50 people daily, either lunch or dinner on banana plantain leaves and distribute home made prasadam. “We have even adopted collective celebration as all members of society get to rejoice together,” says Shukri.

The gorgeous celebration and the colorful rite mean a lot to Tripathi, but the man is also concerned with the protection of the environment during the fest. “We immerse an environment friendly idol of Lord Ganesha, the visarjan is done at a small tank in our vicinity itself…in a way we worship the nature and its life support system,” he adds.

We’re now on WhatsApp. Click to join.

This year the festival assumes more importance for Tripathi as he is still mourning the demise of his brother-in-law, Rajesh Tiwari. “To be honest, emotionally this year was difficult for us But celebrating such festival like Ganesh Chaturthi help us to reunite and feel normal again,” he summed up.