Ooty: It is Ganesha, Ganesha and Ganesha all the way for H. Nishali Manju Bhashini (28), an ardent devotee of Lord Ganesha. Her collection of Ganesha idols which began a decade ago has now reached around 8,500 in her puja room at her home on Vijayanagaram Palace road area here.
“Ganesha idols of all sizes and different forms such as the Aalilai Vinayaka and Bala Ganapathy, keychains, rings, earrings with tiny figures of Ganesha and clothes with printed figures of Ganesha, are all part of the collection. There is also a tiny idol made from a single rice kernel which she sourced from Malaysia”. Now, a model and acting in two Malayalam movies, Ms. Nishali, fondly known as the “Ganesha Girl of Ooty” is set to go further to glorify Ganesha. Nishali is the daughter of Mr. K. Haridoss, a retired sub-inspector of police. Her passion began in 2008 after a miraculous escape in an accident in 2008. “It was in Palakad in 2008 when I had a nasty fall over a dangerous block of stones. To everybody’s surprise, I was totally unhurt, but the pendant of Lord Ganesha which I was wearing broke into pieces. This led me to think that Lord Ganesha had hurt himself to save me. I decided to glorify Lord Ganesha and my venture began with collecting Ganesha idols of all sizes,” she explained.
“I have decided build a small temple for Ganesha in my residential premises,” she added.
