Hyderabad bids farewell to Ganesha

The 10-day Ganesh Chaturthi festivities concluded on a colourful note on Ananta Chaturdasi day with devotees in large numbers, along with idols, making their way to water bodies across Hyderabad and suburbs and bidding adieu to the remover of all obstacles.

The idol immersion reached a crescendo on Thursday evening at Hussain Sagar, which was soaked in the colours of vermillion and reverberated with ‘teenmaar’ beats as devotees gathered to witness the once-in-a-year spectacle.

Amidst heavy security, the immersion ceremony of the famed 61-foot Khairtabad Ganesh idol, weighing 43.5 tonnes, was completed before 2 pm on Thursday as devotees lined up along the immersion route from Khairtabad to Hussain Sagar.

The cynosure of all eyes was the central procession of Ganesh idols that snaked its way from Charminar and MJ Market, culminating at Hussain Sagar. Led by the Balapur Ganesh, the procession attracted thousands of devotees to NTR Marg, Necklace Road and Hussain Sagar. It was joined by scores of Ganesh idols of different sizes and concepts which were brought to the water body on trolleys, pushcarts, two-wheelers, cars and open-top jeeps by devotees.

The police and municipal officials were hoping that the entire exercise of idol immersion at Hussain Sagar would be completed latest by early hours of Friday.

The environs of Hussain Sagar on Thursday reverberated with the chants of ‘Ganapati Bappa Moriya’ and ‘Jai Bolo Ganesh



Maharaj Ki Jai’. By evening, the entire vicinity, including NTR Marg, Tank Bund, Khairtabad and Necklace Road teemed with devotees.

A festive atmosphere prevailed across the old city on Thursday for the centralised Ganesh idol immersion procession.

Dressed in traditional attire, devotees danced to the drum beats energetically as they bid their farewell to Lord Ganesha. A sort of competition was visible among the youngsters who tried to distinguish themselves from organisers of other pandals in various aspects, including the decoration of the idols, drummers and kurtas they wore.

The star attraction was the idol which was decorated with Chandrayan 2 theme. Senior police officials were seen constantly monitoring the movement of Balapur Ganesh till it entered the Central Zone police jurisdiction.

Another attraction was the Pardhiwada Shamsheergunj Ganesh, which was installed for the 50th year consecutively. Naresh, one of the organisers said, “In the beginning, we took the idol on a pushcart decorated with fruits and then a tractor before switching over to the truck. Since the first year, we use fruits, donated by the community, for decoration”

There was no dearth of prasadam for the devotees and general public, as youth associations and Ganesh committee members competed in offering a variety of prasadams, including pulihora, badam milk, curd rice, halwa, puri and buttermilk.