NAGPUR, INDIA, SEPTEMBER 12, 2011: No housewife remained coy and no schoolgirl was bashful when the city saw off its favorite guest on Sunday: Lord Ganesha, who came for His festival. Instead everybody had been dancing and shouting chants requesting Ganapati Bappa to visit them soon the next year. Smeared with gulal, swaying to the beats of sandal, the crowds were busy making merry as all roads of the city seemed to lead towards one of the lakes.
Trucks with big statues, cars with open dikkis from where the kids were screaming their throats hoarse while some other kids were holding onto their smaller statues sitting face-back on two wheelers completed the scene.
Though they were the most joyous of all, kids from the city seemed to be the ones who would miss their friend Ganesha the most. “Our colony has been looking so beautiful because of the decorations. I had so much fun all through the festival as there were games and competitions to look forward to every evening. It feels like a ten-day long picnic is coming to an end,” said eleven-year-old Mohit Madan.
Others said they would miss the very presence of the Lord. Shilpi Jha, who moved to the city only a year back was completely overwhelmed by what she was seeing in the surroundings and started filming the proceeding on her handycam. “I have only seen all this on television and movies up till now,” she enthused.