Ganesh Chaturthi

With the Ganesha Chaturthi festival just a week away, idol makers in Bangalore are going out of their way to popularise Sai Baba and Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams.Ganesha idols resembling Sai Baba and Sunita Williams are everyone's favourites here.Local markets here have at least 500 varieties of Ganesh idols."This year the statue of Ganesha with many hands is in vogue. Besides, weave a Baba Ganesha and an 18-foot-high Ganesha.

The ranges of Ganesha idolst this shop vary from rupees 50 to 30,000. This year around 30,000 to0,000 idols would be sold," said M Srinivas, a retailer dealing in Ganeshadols.Artisans start making idols from the day of Pongal (14 January)."This year we have got special Ganesha with Sunita Williams besides other idols of Ganesha," said Muninanjappa, another Ganesha idol-maker."Vinayaka Chaturthi" or "Ganesha Chaturthi" as it is described popularly in different regions of the country, is actually the birthday celebrations of Lord Ganesha believed to have born in the lunar month of Bhadrapada as per Hindu almanac.

It comes sometime between August 20 and September 15.The 10-day long festivities conclude on "Ananta Chaturdashi" with the immersion of the worshipped Ganesha idols into any major source of water like river or sea or even lakes or a well.This year, Vinayak Chaturthi or Ganesha Chaturthi is falling on September 15.