These quirky Ganesha pandals are the new selfie spots in Hyderabad

This Ganesh Utsav, quirky idols of the Elephant God across pandals have become Instagrammers’ delight in the city. A host of click-worthy idols have not only found a huge fan base on social media but are also attracting hordes of devotees to the pandals everyday. So popular are these unique Ganeshas that even the reccuring rains are unable to dampen the festive spirit of the city’s pandal-hoppers.Interestingly, all these idols are on the other side of the Musi.

In Begum Bazaar, the ‘Pehelwan’ Ganesha is hogging all the attention. The muscular 25-feet-tall Bappa is attracting devotees from all over Hyderabad. “Of all the pandals I visited this year, this one is the coolest. I even video called my family to show it to them!” says 17-year-old Rishi Jain, a visitor at the pandal.

Just as popular is the ‘social media Ganesha’ at another pandal nearby. This Ganesha in its tech- savvy avatar is garnering a huge response from visitors. Raju Gope, the organiser of the pandal, says that it’s always good to pass on a message through one’s favourite deity. “In today’s time, everyone, be it the young or old, is obsessed with social media and games such as PubG. We wanted to spread awareness about the issue and through the idol wanted to highlight how technology too has a downside to it,” he says.

Meanwhile, some of the idol-makers in the city also got inspired from mythological tales and made idols of Bappa with other gods. One such idol at Begum Bazaar shows Ganesha standing on Hanuman’s mace. A few pandals also drew inspirations from temples in different parts of the country to mould their Ganesha. Take for Natwarlal Yadav, who has set up a Ganesha inspired by the famous Khatu Shyam temple in Rajasthan. “I recently visited the Khatu Shyam mandir, and was in awe of the deity. On returning to Hyderabad, I decided to make a Khatu Shyam-inspired Ganesha idol. However, initially a lot of visitors were confused as they couldn’t spot Ganesha on the idol. But later when I told them that both sides of Khatu Shyam Ji’s head were representations of the Elephant God, they were very impressed. Later, I decided to put a small Ganesha idol near the main statue to make things clear,” says Natwarlal.

Riding high on the current buzz surrounding India’s moon explorer Chandrayaan- 2, a pandal in Lal Darwaza has installed a space-faring Ganesha on a rocket designed to represent the lunar rover. “This is our way of paying a tribute to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for embarking on India’s second moon mission,” said one of the organisers. Then there is also the light-weight paper cup Ganesha in Dhoolpet that is standing tall along with other eco-friendly options made out of gober (cow dung), clay and seeds.