The 11-day festivities during this year’s Ganesh Festival turned out be a low-key affair on Tuesday night in Hubballi, with Ganesh Mandals carrying out the immersion of idols in a simple yet meaningful manner.
Every year, the 11-day festivities that would end after colourful immersion processions by various Ganesh Mandals would attract thousands of people. The processions that would begin in the evening would culminate at designated idol immersion ponds in the city and most often, the celebrations would come to an end the next day morning.
However, this year, due to restrictions imposed on celebrations because of COVID-19, many Ganesh Mandals were forced to bring down the height of the idols and also the size of Ganesh pandals and embellishments. The skits on mythological incidents, which used to be the main attraction during the Ganesh festival, were missing this year.
However, many, especially women, felt that the celebrations were more meaningful this year as the high decibel sound systems were not allowed and the devotees chanted Ganapati Bappa Moraya in unison and the celebrations remained simple.
However, the most disappointed were the revellers who used to dance all night to the beats of filmy numbers during the immersion processions. The fear of COVID-19 too made people stay back at home and restrict their movement to their respective localities. As a result, the landmark Kittur Channamma Cricle in Hubballi, which used to be crowded during the processions, did not see many visitors this time. And, even the police had a respite as most of the Ganesh Mandals completed the immersion rituals early on Tuesday night.
