Ganesh in myriad forms draws huge crowds in city

Visakhapatnam: The image of a cycle feat demonstrated by Lord Ganesh in capris, a casual shirt and a cap along with his celestial carrier 'mooshik' delivers a message against speed driving at the pandal located at Srinivasa Nagar, Marripalem.

At Seethammadhara, the sons of Lord Shiva – Ganesh and Karthikeya play an indoor game along with Brahma, while Goddess Parvathi looks on. Playing a carrom match, they aim to promote the concept of 'stop playing with mobile games, start playing indoor and outdoor games.'

Exhibiting various themes, Lord Ganesh takes innovative avatars in Visakhapatnam as the festive mood intensifies in the port city. Here, Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations continue for nine days.

An imposing 54-ft statue of the elephant-headed God dons a Vishnu avatar at Dondaparthi, the tallest in the city. Pandal organisers and association members say that this time they decided to experiment with thematic concepts to help the next generation take home the message.

"With many youngsters getting glued to mobile phones nowadays, we wanted to promote sports and indoor games which have long been forgotten," say the festival organisers at Satyam junction.

For the little ones who accompanied their parents, it was a real feast for the eyes as they not only get inspired by what Ganesh does on stage as His proactive celestial carrier 'mooshik' follows suit but also get to learn interesting lessons.

Parents find it an opportunity to educate their kids about the mythological chapters by taking them to various pandals. "My son and daughter are extremely fond of the elephant-headed God. We make sure to take them to various neighbourhoods and explain them the concepts of the display put up at each place. They find it amusing to listen to such stories.

Last year, we visited 100-plus pandals. However, this festival, we had a darshan of Lord Ganesh at 70 pandals," shares D Srinivasa Rao, an employee of a private firm.