Mumbai dabbawalas inspire Ganesha idol maker, see pics

According to 39-year-old Kavita Patil, she along with a group of friends were working on a miniature theme of Lower Parel railway station, one of the popular destination railway stations of dabbawalas where they unload tiffins to deliver them to their clients

Mumbai's famous Dabbawalas has inspired a group of friends in Lower Parel to conceptualise similar Lord Ganesha's idol this year.

According to 39-year-old Kavita Patil, she along with a group of friends were working on a miniature theme of Lower Parel railway station, one of the popular destination railway stations of dabbawalas where they unload tiffins to deliver them to their clients.

Speaking about the concept, Kavita, said, "I have been thinking about the concept for a year. In Mumbai, the dabbawalas play a very important role but not many appreciate their hard work. They provide tiffin services on time so that the office-goers receive their food on time. We can call them 'Annadata' and to appreciate their hard work, we conceptualised this theme."

She added, "We have been bringing the Ganesha idol to my house since 2006 but we started to come up with different themes in 2014. I am not an artist, but a few of my artist friends came together to build the concept and work on the miniature of the Lower Parel station which is used as a background decor of the idol."

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Over four months before the festival, they started working on the miniature decor. "Detailing is more important while doing a miniature decor to give it a realistic look. We went to the Lower Parel railway station as well to click pictures in order to replicate the exact same railway station as a decor. Besides this, making an idol which will look like a dabbawala was also very important."

Patil adds, "Rather than ordering the idol from a well-known idol-maker, we preferred to give a chance for a new idol-maker who is starting his journey to be an idol-maker."

The members from Mumbai Dabbawala Association visited Patil's house to see the decor and seek blessing from Lord Ganesha.

Subhash Talekar, president of Mumbai Dabbawala Association, said, "We were glad to see the decor based on our profession. They have created an amazing and in detail decor. We are thankful to them for highlighting our efforts in an art form."

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