A celebration goes on(line): 16th annual Ganesh Festival set

Dancers prepare for the 15th Annual Ganesh Mandal: Omkar 2019. Submitted photo

The annual, local Ganesh Festival, a mix of Indian culture and Hindu beliefs, transports Sharvari Kolhatkar halfway around the world. Some 8,200 miles to her homeland of Pune, India, to be precise. And it does so via a blend of week-long gatherings, music, prayer and performances.

“It means a lot, especially since so many of us are so far away from our relatives and family,” said Kolhatkar, vice president of the festival.

That sweet sense of home and more promises to be be a part of the abbreviated and adjusted 16th Annual Ganesh Mandal: Omkar 2020, which will be presented virtually Aug. 21-23 on Facebook, Zoom and YouTube due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

A four-person board, plus a variety of about 80 volunteers, is organizing the gathering that drew an estimated record crowd of 1,300 people on the final day of cultural programs at The Commons.

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“When the whole COVID-19 thing started, we originally thought we still could do the festival in The Commons,” Kolhatkar said. “But, by May, we finally decided that we would have to do it online.”

Instead of a full, usual week of activities centering around the birth and worship of Ganesh, the elephant-headed god of prosperity and prudence, the local gathering will be cut in half. The theme of the Aug. 22 cultural program, normally filled with music and dance, is “Devotion/Positivity” via submitted video clips. The idea is to focus on an upbeat perspective to offer hope amid the novel coronavirus and the challenges that has brought.

“This (virtual) idea is new for everyone involved,” said Amol Shende, the festival’s president. “Though I’ve recently seen other, smaller events done online. So we are trying to learn from them.”

Shende went on to say that this year’s celebration ultimately could attract more participants than previous years since it’s not limited by The Commons’ size. In fact, Shende theorized that some far-flung family members of local residents might be online watching this time around. Zoom alone can accommodate more than 1,000 people at once, organizers estimate.

“We want to give at least some of the same flavor of the festival (as before),” Shende said.

Former Columbus residents Mandar Deo and his wife, Rajashree, launched the local festival in 2005. It has grown as the Columbus population from India, estimated to be about 2,000 people, has grown. Many of the Columbus residents also are members of the Hindu Society of Southern Indiana or the Indian Association of Columbus.

Ganesh festivals began in the 1890s when India was a British colony. While England squelched political expression, it allowed Hindus to unite and celebrate their religious beliefs openly, and they used those gatherings to unite people from various backgrounds and beliefs. As Hindus migrated elsewhere, they took their celebration with them. In India, most celebrations have become grand events stretching for 10 days.

Shende mentioned that conveying the unity and intimacy of the regular, in-person gathering, which includes the Aarti, the worshipful singing to Ganesh, will be a challenge.

“How that will work remains to be seen,” he said. “The hope is to provide on video as seamless an experience as possible to our audience.”

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What: 16th Annual Ganesh Mandal, or Ganesh Festival, a cultural and spiritual celebration honoring Ganesh, the Hindu god of prosperity and prudence.

When: Aug. 21-23.

Where: Online via the Columbus Ganesh Mandal Facebook page, Zoom, and the Columbus Ganesh Mandal YouTube channel.

The cultural program: Deadline for video clip submissions, with performances ranging from singing to dancing, is Friday.

Information: columbusganesh.com

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