More than 300 people gathered at Locke Middle School, Billerica on Saturday, Sept 6th to celebrate Ganeshotsav organized by New England Marathi Mandal. Ganesha Chaturthi is the celebration of the birth of Lord Ganesha. The Ganesha festival is celebrated on the fourth day of the month of Bhadrapad in the Hindu calendar. According to the Gregorian calendar, this falls between the months of August and September. Lokmanya Tilak realized that community celebration of religious festivals would bring people together and introduced the tradition of celebrating the Ganesha festival in Maharashtra on a grand scale. NEMM continued the tradition and organized a grand celebration.

The program began with a traditional Ganesh Pooja and Arti. Ganesh(Ganapati)ji, was made by Shri. Manoj Joshi, and the Makhar( the structure that houses Ganapati) was made by Shri. Govind Deshpande. An interesting mix of events including coloring and drawing contest for kids, job networking, quiz contest, best attire contest, sculpting Ganpati Moorti with dough contest was in the true community spirit for there was something in it for everyone. There were activities for all age groups and a festive atmosphere prevailed throughout the program.

While many tried their skill at making Ganapathi out of Play Dough, Shailendra Pitra walked away with the first prize for his handiwork. The job networking event organized by Mr.Ajay Gallewalle received a good response. Job seekers had opportunity to present themselves to employees directly. A database of job openings and requirements was created and a mailing list was announced for future communications.

All Things Considered, Marathi Quiz’ was a very well received. All the attendees had an opportunity to part in the quiz and test their Knowledge about Marathi Trivia. Vikas Deshpande proved to be the “Man of the Match” winning the Trivia.

Competition for kids were organized and judged by the kids. Color your favorite mouse - Atharva Dixit , Rucha Khanolkar ,Alok Puranik won prizes for the color your favorite mouse contest. Ganapati Pic Sateja Paradkar :Radhika Jungi, Sharayu Mahale won prizes in the coloring of the Ganapathi picture contest. The evening was rounded off with a fabulous feast.

Ganeshotsav is one of the major events organized by NEMM. Since 1975, NEMM is serving the Marathi community in the greater Boston and New England area by arranging various social and cultural events. More information about activities and upcoming events is available at NEMM’s web-site http://www.nemm.org.

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