Ganeshotsav 2024: Hitesh, Sohel, Oswald bring bappa home

Oswald Gonsalves, Hitesh Patel and Sohel Malik at the Morya Mitra Mandal’s pandal in Dahisar West

Three friends from different faiths joined hands to welcome Ganpati Bappa to Dahisar Gaothan, where they reside, this year. The trio - Hitesh Patel, 30, Sohel Malik, 22, and Oswald Gonsalves, 32 - took it upon themselves to set up the Morya Mitra Mandal in late July. They then sought the help of about 30 of their friends, who helped them raise donations from locals.

The friends decided to follow every traditional practice during Shravan such as fasting, refraining from cutting their hair and abstaining from eating non-vegetarian food. The youths have been offering aarti together daily and preparing prasad for devotees.

Malik, a scrap dealer by profession, obtained the idol while Gonsalves contributed to the cost of decorating the mandal. Meanwhile, the Patil family that resides in the same Gaothan let the youths use their land to erect pandal on during Ganeshotsav 2024.

The trio, who reside near a fish market, first planned to bring Ganpati Bappa to their gaothan in 2022. However, Malik's father passed away that year, so the plan was postponed.

Malik told mid-day, "I live with my mother, Husna Malik, a housewife, and my brother. The three of us decided to bring Ganpati Bappa to our gaothan. Just two days before Shravan began, we assembled and decided to name our group Morya Mitra Mandal and roped in more friends from the area."

"I am a practising Muslim and believe that all gods are one. I chose to provide the idol while Gonsalves covered the mandal decoration expenses. Hitesh took responsibility for collecting donations and other tasks," he added.

Sohel's sister Asma Malik, he said, selected the Ganapati idol.

Gonsalves, a real estate agent said, "I feel like we're all one big family. It was our dream to bring Ganpati Bappa to our area. We all have faith in God and believe Ganpati Bappa will bring joy and happiness to our lives. We request every citizen to come together and celebrate all festivals like a family."

Patel, a PT teacher, said, "Before Shravan, we three friends met late at night before deciding to set up a pandal. Malik had been telling us for the past few years that he wanted to bring Ganpati Bappa here. So the three of us decided that this year we would fulfil this dream. We first made our own contribution and then informed 30 friends in the area and they contributed Rs 30,000 in total." He added, "We organised competitions such as musical chairs and aarti dish, drawing and shuttle race contests and held prize distributions for the winners. We will organise Satyanarayan Pooja on September 12 with mahaprasad. We are overjoyed about how things have turned out."

2022
Year trio first thought of setting up mandal