New-age Hindu haters on the loose

By Dhaval Ramtirthkar

The months of August-September are the months that bring together both love and yearning for the arrival of Maharashtra's beloved deity. At the same time, the growing trend towards making Shadu idols of Ganapati Bappa while preserving the environment is attracting attention. Various groups conduct Ganpati making workshops (paid or voluntary) online or offline.

Rotary Club of Kharghar, a branch of Rotary had announced to hold one such eco-friendly Ganpati Idol Making Workshop on 25th August 2024. This workshop was going to be held on Facebook Live and Google Meet. I was looking forward to this workshop because for the past few years I too wanted to learn to make Ganpati idol at home. But handicrafts and I have at opposite ends since my childhood so I needed someone to teach me the craft. That opportunity presented itself in the earnest. Coincidentally, while visiting Pune, I accidentally found Shadu mati in a hardware store. Two kilos for sixty rupees!

As planned, on 25th August 2024, Om (my eighth grade son) and I arranged the required materials and sat down in front of the tablet and started making Ganpati Bappa. The beginning was fun. The dry soil of Shadu was to be kneaded, but we found the kneading extremely tough. Our hands became sticky with the shadu soil. The teaching lady had already mixed the soil when the session started and she started teaching from that point onwards. That made me and Om lag behind since we had to begin from scratch. Somehow we were following the woman's instructions and our idol was taking shape. Bappa's legs were done, stomach was done, hand holding the modak, the blessing hand was also done. We even put Bappa’s head on it. Next came preparing the trunk or nose of Ganpati Bappa. Om and I were kept doing the sond or trunk one after another but to no avail.

Just then a voice came, "Madam aaj aap kya bana rahi ho?" It was the voice of a 10^th-12^th class boy. To this Sheetal Warey madam innocently replied, "Aaj hum Ganapati ki murti bana rahe hai".

After asking the first question, different people started asking the same question again and again. Now madam and we realized that someone is kidding and making fun. Sheetal madam ignored them and continued with her session. But this was just the beginning.

In the next moment, a video of obscene dancing songs was projected on the screen. Now the screen of Sheetal Madam had disappeared and several songs kept being projected one after the other. It was not one person who did this but there were 4-5 different persons creating nuisance.

Without stopping here, they started indulging in some very rude, obscene conversation on purpose. They started talking to each other using words like 'e lovede ke baal, chutiya and so on. Hearing such foul language many parents of boys and girls left the workshop and logged off to escape this obscene hearing to the nonsense gang. However, these Hindu-hating elements continued their rampage. I instructed ma'am twice, messaged to 'Mute' these persons or remove them from the meet. But because Madam and her colleagues were not media savy or were taken aback by the suddenness, no action was taken by them.

After some time madam's colleagues finally got into the act and removed the members of this gang one by one and peace prevailed in the meeting. But what had to happen had happened. Most of the children or individuals who participated in the workshop had left the meet to escape this vulgarity. And secondly, those who were still left did not know how to make the crown and eyes of Ganapati Bappa.

 One thing is clear from this unholy event that Hindu haters have started trying to disrupt Hindu festivals and rituals in a very planned manner. This seems to be a deliberate conspiracy to create a deliberate disturbance in the ways of the Hindus by using the new generation, in the new age. So that the Hindu society remains ignorant of its traditions, customs, culture, and this seems to be a deliberate attempt to increase their misogyny.

Thus, in the next 5 minutes Madam completed the idol was and the program ended. In the end only the Sheetal madam and Om and I were left in the meet. It is a matter of deep regret and great anger that they had succeeded in thwarting the program of making idols of Hindu deities.

Through this experience, a new policy and danger of destruction of Hindu culture was revealed in the new era.

Be careful. Make friends with technology and defeat the efforts of the Hindu-hating society!

The first Ganapati idol made of Shadu clay by Om and myself.