Images of half-broken idols, scattered on the beaches of Mumbai after our famous Ganesh Utsav. Idols of our lord Ganpati, are immersed in water as a mark of respect, however mass commercialisation of what was once a community affair has seen large scale indiscriminate use of non-destructive materials like the quick setting gypsum plaster (Plaster of Paris) and toxic lead-based paints for the creation of these idols that are immersed into the sea. These do not disintegrate quickly and are extremely harmful to the environment –in fact, a death sentence for marine life. However, man in his blind ‘devotion’ and religious fervor continues to rape the earth and uses the image of his God as his instrument. Disturbing and heart wrenching it is to see half-broken, semi-dissolved idols strewn about after the festivities, forgotten till the mayhem returns again after a year. Maybe it was the divine wanting to say something through these words that formed instantaneously.
