India Society of Worcester (ISW) - Ganeshotsav 2023

By Priya Vaidya 

Volunteers: Yatin Manjrekar, Ashok Kale, Atul Deshpande, Shrikant Savant, Govind Dindore, Durgesh Warty, Vishakha (Khamankar) Javalgekar, Priya Vaidya, Manjiri Patil, Sarita Deshpande, Sakshi Gurao

On Sunday September 24th, ISW's Shrewsbury Ganeshotsav Mandal (SGM) team celebrated Ganesh Festival with lots of enthusiasm and vigor, for the twelfth year in a row. Despite the inconvenience of weather conditions, the team still executed the event as planned and with a lot of zeal and "जोश" as always.

This year's festival at ISW had many significant highlights. Prior to the event, a Ganesh idol making workshop was held where almost 25 to 30 participants learnt and made Ganesh idols from clay. The 3D model generated Ganesh idol was made especially for the event day pooja by volunteers of the SGM team. The theme of the event for this year was Social Media. So, in conjunction with the theme, the team had made a beautiful backdrop of various social media platforms and today's ways of communication in picture form. The pictures were digitally drawn taking inspiration from famous Marathi artist/cartoonist Mr. S. D. Phadnis. He is known for his caption-less and colorful cartoons, which mainly featured on magazine covers. As kids back home in India, we all grew up appreciating and enjoying his creations. Hence this decoration was our tribute to this great Marathi artist.

The event started with Ganapati procession (miravnook) in the premises of ISW and was followed by pooja and sacred hymns chanting (aarti). This year's pooja was performed by the parents of Mr. Ashish Cowlagi (past president of ISW). Scrumptious prasad (authentic Maharashtrian delicacy modak and shira) was served. Promptly the entertainment program based on the same social media theme started and the hall was filled with claps and foot tapping. Live dances, skits and songs intertwined with reels on screen, showcased today's life, where social media is prevalent in our day to day. The intertwining was important to highlight the balance we all need to achieve, a key message of the program.

The third highlight of the event was the Dhol-Tasha. The team played the instruments (specially ordered from India) in a procession with many others dancing and rejoicing to the rhythm. The air was filled with energy and a lot of enthusiasm like the festival back in India. From old generation to young kids everyone was enjoying the music and participated in the celebration fever whole heartedly.

All in all, it was a very colorful celebration with pooja, prasad, entertainment program, decorations and food, in the grandeur of the newly renovated India Center. Everyone who attended the program enjoyed it thoroughly.

The event ended with a delicious authentic dinner of Shrikhand poori, batata wada among other dishes. Volunteers and the SGM team planned the event for months and its fruitful completion left everyone satisfied and content.

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