MUMBAI, INDIA, September 8, 2005: As this mega-city ushered in this year’s Ganapati festival on Wednesday, not just Hindus but also Muslims, Christians, Parsis and other religious groups were preparing to join in the 10-day revelry. With thousands of small and big icons of Ganesha, the elephant-headed God, being installed in almost every nook and corner of the city, various communities joined hands to participate and make the event a success. It was a Christian, Wilson Brooks, who founded the Shri Sarvajanik Ganesh Mitra Mandal of the King’s Circle area in central Mumbai, one of the 10,000 such in the city. A Muslim, Salim Sheikh, now heads it. This 24-year-old mandal has 12 members, of whom five are non-Hindus. “There is nothing in our festival that says non-Hindus cannot participate. In fact, Muslims make generous contributions to our mandal,” said Machindra Nath Dighe, vice president of the 72-year-old Lalbaug Sarvajanik Utsava Mandal, one of the biggest and richest in the city. Rayomand Batliwala, 23, a Parsi, has been celebrating the festival at his home since he was seven years old. After he showed keen interest in the festival, his family, too, joined although they had initial reservations. “It is a blessing to have Lord Ganesha at my home. I strictly perform all the pujas and shlokas (rituals and chants) every year,” Batliwala said.
Religion is never a criterion for the more than 30 lifeguards of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), including Christians and Muslims, who keep an eye on the icon-immersion ritual on the 10th day of the Ganpati festival. The YMCA has been involved with immersion services since 1996, when a few members received life-guard certificates from the Louisville YMCA in the US.