As Ganesha idols overwhelmingly populate Dhoolpet in the old city, the locality takes on a new shine. Thousands of idols are waiting on the streets to be chosen.
Published Sep 06, 2024 | 6:15 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 06, 2024 | 6:15 PM
Dhoolpet becomes the epicenter of Ganesha idols as Ganesh Chathurthi draws closer.
With the nation celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi on Saturday, 7 September, Telangana capital Hyderabad is adorned with the idols of Lord Ganesha.
As Ganesha idols overwhelmingly populate Dhoolpet in the old city, the locality takes on a new shine. Thousands of idols are waiting on the streets to be chosen.
Even as the monsoon showers deter most commuters, this street is full of families, youngsters, and community associations picking and choosing among the several idols to celebrate the festival in full gear.
Sculptor Vikas Bhai is one among the many who supply Ganesha idols for the festival.
A huge Ganesh idol made at Vikas Bhai’s workshop.
“Vikas Bhai begins production on these huge idols at least four months before the festival. Some of these idols are big enough that you can’t see anything beyond,” a recurring buyer revealed.
The humongous idols in the godown were a sight to behold with their intricate details. While Vikas Bhai behemoths are on one end of the spectrum, their production is limited.
Sumit Singh, running a family-owned idol shop, begins production in the summer. “Each idol can take between two to six to sometimes even 12 hours,” he reported. They hire workers from the Medchal and Uppal districts, occasionally calling them in from Kohlapur.
“The big idols each require about 10 to 12 workers. Once it is complete, we must leave it out to dry for at least 24 hours,” he informed. The capital they spend per idol ranges between ₹6,000 and ₹8,000.
They finally paint the idols as the festival draws closer.
One thing in common between Vikas and Sumit apart from the gargantuan efforts poured into making the idols, is the material.
Both use Plaster of Paris (PoP) to make the idols. “We also make a few with mud, but the majority of our idols are made out of PoP,” Sumit said
Even the Southwest monsoons won’t stop people from taking the idol home as some cover up their Ganeshas while others hold an umbrella over their heads.
Sights of cranes lifting humongous idols are commonplace this time around.
Gautam, president of the Veer Nagar Youth Association in Khairatabad, is at Vikas Bhai’s shop to purchase this year’s idol.
“This festival is very important to me, I get to continue the tradition of my grandfather and my father,” he said. He told South First that they get their idols from the same shop every year, with the price and size of the idol slowly creeping up.
“This year’s idol cost well over ₹2 lakh, we had to hire a crane to lift it,” he stated pointing to the crane on standby.
However, the festival is not just about extravagant celebrations. Lakshmi, a resident of Nampally, comes to Dhoolpet every year to purchase an idol with her husband.
“We’ve only married recently, and since then we’ve started getting a little idol for our place,” she told South First.
They are just two people out of the hundreds visiting these shops and picking the perfect Ganesha for their homes, colonies, and communities.
A Ganesha idol at Sumit’s shop.
Before Sumit Singh started helping out in running the shop, his mother Sabitha Singh ran it. Running the shop for the last 60-odd years, she remembers playing around with the idols since her childhood.
Today even as her hands grow wrinkled with age, she still handles the idols as delicately as ever, understanding more about the production than many others.
Her son, Sumit is in the final year of his Bachelor’s degree.
“The entire ordeal is just one part of the year. My mother did it the way her parents taught her, I intend to do it the way she taught me,” he told South First.
Most Ganesha idols are sold primarily out of the Mangalhat Road, a narrow street dotted with shops on both sides. To control the traffic during this busy time of the year the Mangalhat Police Station has collaborated with the Traffic Police Department.
“The 15 days preceding the festival are when this street is full of people and vehicles,” a policeman stationed on the road told South First.
To manage the traffic, the police even designated a special route for vehicles carrying large idols.
“Even if we don’t consider the extremely heavy traffic, the dangling wires will obstruct the transport. Hence, we’ve set up a separate route for the idols to take,” he reported.
Disallowing an auto from entering the route, he said, “This is the only time these people can sell their idols after a year’s toil, so this is the least we can do.”
He further said that huge idols are shipped out in the two preceding weeks not just across Telangana, but also to Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
(South First is now on WhatsApp and Telegram)
