Ganesh Utsav is a favourite amongst most Mumbaikars. It is a festival that brings alive all the corners and streets of Mumbai. The city sky plays on the shades of red while the streets are filled with orange and the reverberating chants of ‘Ganpati Bappa Mourya’.
The process of welcoming and bidding farewell (Visarjan) to the elephant god is a procession of people dancing on the road along with mobile music systems blaring bhajans, Marathi and Bollywood songs. As per visarjan tradition, the idol is immersed into a water-body after a set number of days. Evidently, the morning after the Visarjan days, every beach on the coast of Mumbai is left with tons of waste.
Over the last few years, people have raised concerns about the pollution caused by the beaches and the irreversible damage it causes to marine life. Many NGOs and youths have gone out of their way to clean the beaches post-visarjan. Inspired by these youngsters, large numbers of people joined hands and got involved in the cleaning.
It didn’t take long for the self-motivated and thoughtful act of cleaning up the trash left during and after Ganeshotsav to become a movement in itself. Thousands of people across age, caste, class and religion, now consciously come together every year to partake in beach cleaning drives.Since we are in the last few days of Ganeshotsav, we have listed down a few of the upcoming beach cleaning drives at various beaches in Mumbai.
Juhu Beach- 13th September
The United Youth of India is organizing a beach cleaning drive on the coming Friday, the 13th of September. The plan is to gather at Juhu Beach early morning with enough people to make an impact.
If you’d like to be part of this drive, follow the link to their Facebook page below:
https://www.facebook.com/events/454195655169412/permalink/454195658502745/
Danapani beach- 14th September
Afroz Shah, the Mumbai-based lawyer who spearheaded the Versova Beachs’ cleaning is organizing post visarjan cleanups as well. The clean-up drive is being held at the Danapani beach at Malad(west). It is scheduled from 4.00 pm to 6.00 pm on the 14th September, a Saturday.
To be part of the movement, register on the link below:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGyEIM6hsDUzjibjb1xC3VuXHGsfBf50q9NSoANPDW00S_UQ/viewform
Dadar Beach- 15th September
Cambay Tiger, a fish supplier in Mumbai is organizing a beach cleaning drive on the 15th of September. They are all set to do their bit for the ocean and its creatures. Join them to ensure the oceans are clean and the fish are safe.
Register on the link below as a participant:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfKHmxz-qMZmfbUEgebVrsmDjILZcIAxr1pfgH5xIM0Aaag2Q/viewform?usp=send_form
Girgaun Chowpaty- 13th September
An independent NGO, PAA Foundation is organizing a beach cleaning drive at the Girgaun Chowpaty on the 13th of September. With the support of the radio channel, 92.7 FM, PAA plans to promote the celebration of festivals in an eco-friendly manner.
If you want to volunteer, reach out to them on their Facebook events’ page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/507433606710442/
