Yash and Gouri Tonnk refuse to bid farewell to Bappa

While the Ganesha festival usually culminates with the visarjan of the idol, there are many families in Mumbai, who don’t believe in bidding farewell to Bappa. Take for example, TV couple Yash and Gouri Tonnk. The actress says, “While we observe all the other rituals of the festival, we skip the visarjan. We don’t immerse the idol at all. We have been using the same Ganesha idol for the past 16 years.”
Interestingly, it’s a childhood experience that made Gouri take this decision.She says, “As a child, I used to feel sad to see the idol disappearing in water. In fact, I would be crying when it was time to say bye-bye to Bappa. That was when I promised myself that whenever I get married, I will not immerse the idol in water.”
And, she did get a chance to keep that promise. “We have been celebrating the festival for one-and-a-half days right from the first year of our marriage. Instead of visarjan, I just do the ‘uttar pooja’ — take the idol out of the main door of our house, bathe it in water and bring it back inside. I then clean the idol thoroughly and place it at its regular place in the house,” she shares.
The idol, too, has a special significance in their lives. “The idol we use was our wedding gift. When I started this practice, there was no fad of getting eco-friendly idols. So, in a way, we unintentionally started celebrating the festival in an an environment-friendly manner,” Gouri sums up.