Who would imagine that in a place like Hong Kong, Ganpati celebrations would be done in proper Mumbai style.
Tung Chung, a town in Hong Kong, which is densely populated by Indians, celebrated five days of Ganpati Utsav with the same zest and zeal as anyone would celebrate in India, especially in Maharashtra.
Thanks to Gaurav Pardeshi and his wife Neha Pathak who decided to make their home based Ganpati Bappa a public offering to their several friends living in Tung Chung.
It all started with Gaurav Pardeshi, who handmade the Ganpati Bappa’s sculpture spending 23 days and spent 2 to 3 hours everyday after work.
Gaurav mentioned “I bought red mud clay from a place called Hearty Ceramics https://heartyceramic.com/ in Tai Kok Sui and acrylic colors, beads and decoration items from Prince Edward. It took me approx. 23 kgs of red mud clay to build an approx 2 feet height Ganpati Bappa statue.”
We had a chance to ask Gaurav a couple of questions regarding the creation of his handmade Bappa sculpture and how different his way of celebrating the festival is versus the rest. Followed below is the questions we asked him.
What’s the difference between Mumbai style ganpati celebration and Hong Kong’s style of celebrating?
Everything is the same except the nation. Hong Kong has a fairly decent population of Indians and majority of these Indians live in Tung Chung. It’s also considered mini India for several reasons considering the bigger houses, top-class residential towers and complexes and but obvious, the huge Indian community staying here. Among the Indians living in HK, the energy, devotion and dedication towards Bappa is the same in Hong Kong as compared to India. In Tung Chung itself there must be over 100 houses that brought Ganpati Bappa home this year.
What’s the average cost of making the Ganesh idol at home vs buying it from local shops in Hong Kong and approximate Cost of raw materials required?
Red Mud Clay will cost HK$100 for a 10kg bag, Acrylic colours and decoration beads would cost approx. HK$200. To build a 2 feet tall Ganpati Bappa sculpture it took me approx. HK$500 for the entire thing. In local Indian shops of HK, readymade Ganpati Bappa Murti’s range from HK$500 to HK$3000 depending on the size and decoration. All Ganpati Bappa Murti’s in HK are sold by major Indian grocery stores and it takes them a lot of efforts to bring the Murti’s from India to Hong Kong.
How long does it take to make an idol if one wants to make it at home?
It depends on person to person and skill to skill. If a person is good at drawing, sketching and painting, it should not be very hard for them. According to me, it should take around 20-30 days, everyday 2-3 hours for making a good sized Bappa murti. There are many videos available on Youtube that anyone can follow and make a Bappa Murti at home. Last year also I made Ganpati Bappa’s murti with my own hands, by watching a youtube video.
There is no difference. It does not matter you do Marathi or Hindi Aarti. The main thing is worship our lord Ganesha and make him happy. Born and raised in Mumbai, for me Maharashtrian Aarti is the most authentic and genuine form of Aarti to please Ganpati Bappa. However, I always mix the Marathi Aarti’s with the Hindi Aarti’s and make sure I’m singing at least for good thrity minutes. Sukharta Dukharta is the main Aarti followed by Shankar, Durgadevi, Vithal Aarti’s and then Om Jai Jagdish, Jai Ganesh and then ending with Kapur Gauram and Marathi Prarthna.
Click the link below to see a short clip on the Aarti process.
Tell me more about your Aarti Mandli?
Its a small group of Ganpati Bappa Devotees who perform Ganpati Bappa Aarti’s at anyone’s house, wherever we get invited. We are a group of 10-15 volunteers and we do the Aarti’s for absolutely free-of-cost. The Aarti’s we perform are really authentic style Marathi cum Hindi aarti’s.
There is no specific symbolism of the hand cart but its mainly so that Ganpati Bappa can be placed on it and carried towards the sea for immersion. Its also good for all the Bappa devotees to sing and dance around the carriage. In Mumbai, we use trucks, haathgaadi’s and other similar vehicles to carry Bappa for visarjan with singing, DJ and dancing. The same thing I tried to do in Hong Kong. I borrowed the metal hand cart from our building, which is mainly used for homes relocations and moving. On top of this metal hand cart, i placed our home table and tied it up nicely with metal rods, so that the table does not slip-off. The cart was then decorated with nice flowers. I also managed to install some usb spot lights using a power bank connection.
Click the link below to see the use of the carriage
We had around 80-100 people who came on the last day of visarjan. Many of them took Bappa’s darshan and left, but around 30-40 of our closed friends living in HK joined us for the visarjan (immersion) all the way from our house to the Tung Chung ferry pier. It was a good 30-45 minutes walking with Ganpati Bappa on his carriage and all of us dancing to the music and hailing Ganpati Bappa Mourya, all the way until bappa was fully immersed.
Click the link below to see the visarjan process and final immersion.
What are you plans for Ganpati Festival next year in Hong Kong?
Next year my wife and myself, we plan to do a Sarvajanik Ganpati Utsav in Tung Chung. I will make a Bappa statue with my own hands once again.
Next year, we want to invite every HK Indian person, known or unknown does not matter, to take Darshan of Bappa and join us for the Visarjan ceremony. we’ll also make a committee to decide on how we want to make Ganesh Utsav in a Sarvajanik (public) way.
Anyone interest in joining this Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav group as a volunteer or committee member can get in touch with me directly on 95433660
For more pictures or videos of the celebrations click on the link below.
