Morya, the merrier

It’s the birthday of our favourite God today — Lord Ganesha. As we welcome the cute, elephant-headed God and seek his blessings, here’s a little more on why we celebrate this day. Once when Parvati allowed her son Ganesha to guard her while she was taking a bath, he unintentionally annoyed Shiva by not allowing him to enter the home. That’s when Shiva severed the head of the child. Parvati got annoyed and asked Shiva to revive him and he cut the head of an elephant and fixed it to the boy’s body and named him Ganesha. Since that day, we have been celebrating the day as Ganesh Chaturthi. On this auspicious day, we speak to a few Sandalwood stars from the city on how they’re celebrating this festival.

Awaiting the release of her Kannada film Mumtaz this month, and currently shooting for Katha, a Bollywood film, actor Sharmiela Mandre shares, “Ganesh Chaturthi is a very special festival for me. We celebrate this festival every year at home with great gusto. We bring the Ganesh and Gauri a day before the festival. We do the Gauri puja a day before followed by the Ganesh puja the next day. We do the visarjan the very same night. We also make lots of sweets (modaks —a Ganesh special sweet), jalebi, gulab jamun, besan ladoo at home followed by a traditional lunch, which is specially made during the festival. It includes poori bhaji, vadas, Maharashtrian kadhi, aloo methi, sabudhana khichdi, varan bhaat, which is traditional Maharashtrian food. Also, I will be dressing up in a traditional Kanjeevaram saree to offer my prayers.”

Priyanka Upendra who is currently shooting for her upcoming film called Priyanka, will stop all work to celebrate the festival with her family. The pretty actress says, “I’m currently shooting, but since we always celebrate Ganesha in a big way, I will stop the shoot and will come home for a gana-homa in my house with the purohits. I have  taken two days off, on September 17 for Ganesha and September 18 for Uppi’s birthday. I have bought an eco-friendly Ganesha from the same place that we have been buying from for the past few years. As part of the tradition, we also prepare payasam, obattu, chithranna, anna saaru and modak and our close friends and family will visit our home for the puja.”

Awaiting the release of his much awaited Sandalwood release, Wedding Pullav, Diganth Manchale is looking forward to the festival. “This Ganesha festival is very special for me as I will be in Mumbai for the first time. I have heard so much about Mumbai Ganesha festival and I’m so happy that I will get to witness it first hand. I’ve got an eco-friendly Ganesha at home.”

The pretty and petite Aindrita Ray shares how she prays to Lord Ganesha before the beginning of every film. “Everytime we start a film, a Ganesh puja is a must and has been a tradition in the film industry. This puja is incomplete without lots and lots of sweets. I love attending the puja and the procession.”