Bhopal: #MereGanpatiBappa, an online campaign launched by city lad Harshit Tiwari has evoked an enthusiastic response. Around 4,000 people have, so far, got associated with the campaign.
The 24-year-old art teacher and vocalist, while talking to Free Press, said that Ganesh Utsav is basically a community function – a social event that is best enjoyed in the company of others. "However, thanks to COVID-related restrictions, public celebration of the fest has been banned this year, forcing people to celebrate it in their homes. I thought that something should be done to give people a feeling of community celebrations of the 10-day festival devoted to the god of wisdom and knowledge,” he says.
As part of the campaign, he urges the people to share pictures of the idols of Ganesh installed at their homes and also the ‘Jhankis’ they have made on social media platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook with the hashtag #MereGanpatiBappa. "Restricting that the idol should be made of eco-friendly material," the art teacher says.
Tiwari has been at the forefront of the eco-friendly Ganesh campaign since past few years. Last year, he taught the art of making beautiful idols of the Lord using clay, paper and other biodegradable material to more than 2,500 school children by visiting their schools. This year, of course, the schools were closed so he chose the online mode to give the training.
He has trained more than 250 persons till date and is continuing with the campaign, he says. Tiwari is a trained classical vocalist and used to take classes at Jawahar Bal Bhawan, Bhopal, a government centre for teaching various arts and crafts to children.
