Ganesha embarks on rain water harvesting

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Wednesday August 20 2003 00:00 IST

from newindiapress.com

Ganesha embarks on rain water harvesting propaganda

 

CHENNAI: In a supreme twist of irony, even as environmentalists are

crying hoarse over possible degradation to the coastal ecosystem due

to the Vinayaka Chathurthi celebrations, Lord Ganesha has himself

jumped on to the water conservation bandwagon.

 

This season, he will spread the message of rain water harvesting

(RWH). No surprise, considering the fact that the Chathurthi itself

falls on August 31, the deadline set by the TN Government for

implementing RWH systems in all buildings.

 

In a garbage-strewn corner of Kosapet, the hub of idol-makers for the

past five decades, V Moorthy (28) is involved in sculpting a 9-foot-

high Ganesha idol. ''This was the first such order to come in,'' says

Moorthy. ``But after word spread, orders are pouring in.''

 

In a curious mix of kitsch and propaganda, this Ganesha will hold an

umbrella in one hand, and a motorised mechanism will pour water on

it. The run-off will then be routed through the God's trunk to fall

on a miniature globe perched on a white lotus. The water that

collects on the lotus goes back on to the umbrella once again.

 

``All it needs is a bucket of water a day and all of it will be

recycled,'' says Moorthy says. Among the 500-odd idol-makers in

Kosapet, Moorthy is known for his penchant for making the ordinary

extra-ordinary. Last year, he came up with the idea of `Baba'

Vinayakar, fashioned after Rajnikanth's film, but had to shelve it

after somebody complained of sacrilege.

 

This year, however, he has other aces up his sleeve: one, a globe-

trotting Vinayaka who waves spiritedly as he boards an airplane, the

other a VIP Vinayaka with two gun-totting commandos guarding him just

to show that ''even the gods do not feel safe these days''.

 

A walk through Kosapet's narrow streets with a succession of chalky-

eyed Ganeshas _ the paints will be on only a week before the date of

festival _ staring at you silently from every corner is an exercise

in zany surrealism. There are innovations galore _ one Ganesha idol

has a jukebox touch in that if you pop in a Re 1 coin, the trunk goes

up in a gesture of benediction.

 

Such post-modern iconographic touches are necessary if 100 families

involved in making idols have to make both ends meet the rest of the

year. Some of them like S Nandakumar have given up other professions

like milk-vending temporarily to try his hand in fashioning the idols

out of clay, plaster of Paris, iron rods and coconut fibre.

 

Business is not the same as before, the idol-makers admit, adding

that even bulk orders from religious outfits like the Hindu Munnani

and the Hindu Makkal Katchi cannot offset the slump in sales, not in

terms of the number of idols sold, but the cost. The economics does

not balance out, they lament. A five-foot Ganesha now sells for

barely Rs 3,000 against Rs 4,500 two years earlier as buyers demand

more for less money.

 

Most workers work for daily wages and health complaints are not

uncommon. ``Sustained exposure to the plaster of Paris dust for over

a month causes respiratory problems. We are not provided with gloves

and thus mix the powder in water with bare hands. The heat thus

generated sears our skin. Most of us have difficulty while eating for

several months after that,'' says Tamilarasan (14).

 

Incidentally, most of the workers are teens, some of whom have taken

leave from school to work here. ``Work begins only one month ahead of

the festival and goes on round the clock. Earlier, idols easily

touched heights up to 25 feet. However, after the police passed

orders restricting the height, now it's hardly 15 feet.

 

It's the kind of materials that go into the making of the idols that

play havoc with the sea waters into which they are dumped after the

festivities are over, environmentalists say. While clay and plaster

of Paris dissolve and agglutinae across the sea aquifers, the rusting

iron rods and enamel paints turn the sea into a toxic quagmire. Mass

mortality of marine life is a direct fallout of idol-dumping, they

add.