One of the biggest festivals of Mumbai, Ganeshotsav, will not be the same this year owing to the coronavirus pandemic. That is because the maximum city has the maximum number of coronavirus cases and a large scale celebration can make matters worse. The 10-day festival will be celebrated in a simple manner adhering to all government guidelines issued for coronavirus.
But, many are still bringing Lord Ganesha home. And, in case you are worried about stepping out to make some last minute arrangement for Bappa, fret not, we have you covered. Be it shopping for puja essentials or prasad or even calling a pujari home…you can shop for all things online for Bappa. So, if you can breathe a sigh of relief because if you are worried of navigating through overcrowded markets, worry not. You can now do this all and more by visiting website and/or downloading apps.
JUNQ
Mumbai-based online platform JUNQ offers Ganpati essentials for sthapna, puja and visarjan. JUNQ is offering three Ganpati essential packages priced at Rs 1199, Rs 1399 and Rs 1599. The packages contain 25 items, which include flowers, fruits, attar, coconut, honey bottle, kapur, agarbatti, khadi shakhar, gulabjal, etc. You can choose the packages depending on the number of days you plan to keep bappa for. The pricing will depend on that—the products offered will be the same, just the quantity will change.
Rohit Patil from JUNQ, said they delivery across Mumbai and Thane. The company also takes care of sanitisation. The website promises to deliver these package on August 21.
Steps to place order:
Step 1: Visit JUNQ's website, https://junq.in/
Step 2: Select package you want, Rs 1,199, Rs 1,399 and Rs 1,599
Step 3: Click on place order
Step 4: Add mobile number which sends unique code to your mobile number
Step 5: Later, enter your details
Step 6: Make payment online.
My OmNamo
Mumbai-based My OmNamo app offers an array of things: You can book for Ganesh idols, pandit for puja, decor, modaks, and more. My OmNamo also offers customised puja packages, temple darshan and more.
My OmNamo offers complete puja samagri for Ganesh sthapna, which includes fresh flowers and durva, pandit services and hygienically made Ukadiche modak (a favourite of Lord Ganesha). The packages starts from Rs 4,501 and go up to Rs 10,999 and also include eco-friendly Ganesh idol.
Speaking about the packages, Makarand Patil, Founder, My OmNamo said, “The ‘My OmNamo Sampoorna Ganesha Puja Kit’ includes 68 types of Ganesh idols, 35 different designs of paper decoration (makhar), puja samagri kit and Brahmin. With thermocol ban, our eco-friendly makhar and decorations, which are made from recycled and natural colours, will come as a respite for environment conscious families. Patrons from India as well as overseas (US, UAE & Australia) have relied on My OmNamo, and we have so far exported 650 kits comprising of idol, puja kit and makhar, we hope we reach around 1000 homes this year. Now we have puja bookings for Ganesha sthapna from UK, Canada and Malaysia also for the upcoming Ganesh festival.”
The lockdown led to many cultural activities moving online. In fact, there were some pandits offering puja and other consultation virtually. Speaking about virtual puja, Patil said, “Virtual puja is trending more in metro cities and tier 2 cities like Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Indore and Jaipur. During this pandemic, we also performed several virtual pujas in Australia and UAE.”
For ordering or booking virtual puja, one will have to download My Omnamo from Google Play Store (not available for non-android phones) or visit the website (https://www.myomnamo.com/).
