Mumbai: Stop discriminating on basis of religion, caste and other such factors and start being human, says the Ganpati of Karad-based Shinde family.
The theme of the decoration done by Chandrakala Shinde portrays the recent floods that lashed the state and brought a few districts to a virtual standstill.
"We have been brining Ganpati at our place for more than a decade now. This year, before we could bring him home, I was confused especially for the decoration as we had just gone through the worst ever floods of our lives," said Chandrakala, a home-maker.
Notably, both Chandrakala (57) and her husband Satish Shinde (58) were also victims of the floods that recently hit Satara, Kolhapur and nearby areas. The couple, however, participated in rescue operations of others stranded in the floods.
"During the rescue operations we could see how people kept aside their religion, caste, gender, sect etc and behaved like humans only. We could only see humanity everywhere and not any religion or other such classifications," said Satish Shinde, a surgeon by profession.
Satish further added, "Everyone was behaving solely like humans. No one said s/he would not help someone belonging to a particular religion or something like that. Every person was coming out to help each other in these times of stress."
Accoridng to Chandrakala, she was moved by the humanity shown by everyone during the rescue operations.
"I was touched by the scenario I saw and thus decided that I should portray all this in the Ganpati decorations. Thus, I used photographs of the rescue operations with messages of unity in the decorations," said Chandrakala.
The decoration also has a Rangoli giving out the message of "unity in diversity." All the efforts put in by Chandrakala, who single-handedly managed to decorate her house, have been fruitful.
"My wife's decoration has been appreciated by everyone who visited our house. Even the local NGOs and media houses have awarded her certificates for best decoration in the city," informed Shinde.
