10 days of festivities and a grand farewell

PUNE: A bit of sadness hung in the festive atmosphere as Puneites got ready to bid adieu to Ganapati Bappa on Tuesday. Anant Chaturdashi on Wednesday is when the idols will be immersed.
Workers of Ganesh mandals were busy adding finishing touches to the procession plans, making sure that Bappa gets a colourful adieu.
The immersion procession will start from Tilak statue in Phule Market (Mandai) around 9am with the five Manache Ganapati leading the way."The Kasba Ganapati will be taken in a silver palanquin after the aarti. We have two teams of volunteers who will urge people to exercise the right to vote during the elections. About 30 foreign students will also accompany the procession," said Bharat Rathod, president of the mandal.
The second Ganapati -- Tambdi Jogeshwari Mandal, will also come in a palanquin for the procession after mayor Chanchala Kodre performs the aarti. "Marathi television actors will accompany the Ganapati idol besides two dhol-tasha teams," said Prasad Kulkarni, its treasurer.
The Guruji Talim Mandal's idol will ride a chariot made of flowers, said Pravin Pardeshi, an office-bearer. Dhol-tasha teams Naadbrahma and Shivgarjana will join the procession.
The Tulshibaug Ganapati Mandal's idol will be placed on a 24-kg silver pedestal in a chariot decorated with flowers. "A team of 500 doctors will accompany the mandal to spread awareness about lifestyle diseases and importance of yoga and exercise. We will have three teams of dhol-tasha accompanying the procession," said Nitin Pandit, treasurer of the mandal.
Kesariwada Ganapati will also join the procession in a palanquin decorated with flowers, according to Deepak Tilak, who heads the mandal's celebrations.
The entire procession route on Laxmi Road will have rangoli by 300 artistes of the Rashtriya Kala Akademi. Its president Mandar Ranjekar said, "We will start drawing rangoli from 8 am and cover all the 12 chowks along the procession route. The rangoli will be based on the theme of women's rights and depict issues like atrocities against women, child marriage, dowry and women's empowerment."
The rangoli artistes will use 1,000 kg colours, 50 bags of rangoli and 35 bags of gulal for a carpet of colours for Ganapati Bappa. Besides Laxmi Road, the immersion processions will also use alternative routes on Kumthekar, Kelkar and Tilak roads.
MSEDCL control room
The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd will set up a control room from 9 am on Wednesday, which will continue to function till the end of the immersion procession, to ensure uninterrupted power supply. The control room on Laxmi Road will be manned by a junior engineer and a mobile van will also be deployed to redress complaints about power failure.
People can contact the toll free call centre numbers 18002333435/18002003435 to register complaints. The temporary con-trol room can be contacted on numbers 7875767232/7875767206 (for Parvati area) and 7875767531/7875767532 (Shivajinagar area).
Ganesh mandals have been urged to ensure that the decorations do not touch overhead wires or transformers.
Health check
The Modern Vikas Mandal will start a free medical treatment centre at Vijay talkies chowk on Laxmi Road for the benefit of mandal workers, devotees and other residents who may need urgent medical attention. The medical centre will start functioning from 11 am and have facilities to take ECG, test blood sugar level, provide oxygen, nebulizer and required medicines. An ambulance will also be kept ready in case hospi-talisation is needed. People needing medical attention have been asked to call: Dharmendra Shah - 9422008441/Rajendra Khedekar - 9822870120/ Tushar Jagtap - 9422631137.