Mumbaikars are excited to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi this year, especially because they can enjoy the festival to the fullest after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. As there has been awareness over the years about how Plaster Of Paris (POP) idols create water pollution, many devotees in the city have moved towards eco-friendly alternatives like paper and clay, and even make their idols at home
Updated On: 2022-09-05 07:46 PM IST
Bandra-based Sumit Yempalle started making his idols at home in 2014 by using a paste made from paper and soaked fenugreek to make a plaster for the idols. Photo Courtesy: Sumit Yempalle
The eco-friendly method gives visual designer's idols a raw finish that has become his identity and only two years after making them on his own, he started receiving orders for them. Photo Courtesy: Sumit Yempalle
While he doesn't take orders anymore, with practice over the last eight years, Yempalle now takes half the time to make the idol for his home. Photo Courtesy: Sumit Yempalle
In Thane, author Saee Koranne-Khandekar has been making a clay idol at home for nine years because she couldn't connect with a store-bought idol. With each passing year, she gets better at sculpting the idol - from start (left) to finish (right). Photo Courtesy: Saee Koranne-Khandekar
Ganesh Satyanarayan Dusa has been making idols since he was 15-years-old. It was during this time that he learned about the concept of eco-friendly idols and has been making them since then for the last nine years. Photo Courtesy: Ganesh Satyanarayan Dusa
Since 2017, he started creating one for his home with clay and uses different kinds of concepts involving Lord Ganesha, his mouse and a modak. Photo Courtesy: Ganesh Satyanarayan Dusa
This year, even though he has been busy juggling work and making idols because Ganesh Chaturthi has come early, he has delivered idols (in picture) as far as Nerul, Sangli and Surat too. Photo Courtesy: Ganesh Satyanarayan Dusa
