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Ganpati at your doorstep: e-booking opens amidst Covid pandemic in Pune
The Ganesh festival is now a month away and Pune is readying for a Ganesh Utsav like has been never experienced in living memory.
The Ganesh festival is now a month away and Pune is readying for a Ganesh Utsav like has been never experienced in living memory.
The first day of the 10-day Ganpati festival is on August 22, celebrated as Ganesh Chathurthi, and the Ganesh festival 2020 is going to be “Bappa at home” in Pune.
The public outpouring of faith and festivity has been put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the number of progressive positive cases in Pune having crossed 30,000 cases and currently growing at the rate of 1,500-plus cases per day.
Mandaps, elaborate décor for public viewing, and the public sale of Ganpati idols are all on hold, and unlikely to happen this season.
Idol makers who have had to come up with new of business strategies to ensure the city’s “Vignaharta” makes it to every home, as is the tradition.
“In a bid to reach the maximum number of people and provide them Ganpati idols at their doorsteps we started a concept called ‘Bappa Aplya Dari’ (Ganpati at your doorstep). People should not come out of their society or area to the market to purchase the idols this year. So we have three vans in which we have displayed the different types of Ganpati idols. In each van there are 70 to 80 varieties - at least 215 varieties on display. This includes idols with diamonds, and idols made from plaster of paris (POP), clay, red clay, and the eco-friendly idols. These idols are one-to-two feet in height and we have not increased the rates this year,” said Abhijeet Suresh Abnwae, owner of Abhijeet Arts, a firm that has been in the idol-making business for the last 30 years.
“Initially, we contact the chairman of a residential society, and they give us a date and a time slot to take our vehicle to the society. With proper social distancing, society members see the idols, make a booking and before the Ganpati festival begins, we will do home deliveries,” said Abnwae, adding, “The daily rent of one van is Rs 3,500, and to make the racks inside the van to display the idols Rs 30,000 has been spent per van. Staff, including drivers and helpers, are paid salaries. We have a sales target of 10,000 idols this year, but it might increase looking at the response,” added Abnwae.
The Ganesh Kala Kendra, popular for its “shadhu mati” Ganpati idols, is also reaching out to customers.
Amol Mehta, one of the co-owners of the kendra said, “This year, due to corona, the entire business model has changed. Earlier, we use to install a tent, or rent a shop on Tilak toad where customers would come, select their Ganpati idols and then take it home before the festival. This year, we have gone online with a website for booking of idols. We already have customer data from the previous years and are contacting them via email for orders. We also send idol photos out on WhatsApp to our regular customers. People are ready to pay more this year to get the idols home delivered,” says Mehta.
Another senior Ganapti idol maker from Pune, 62-year-old Ganesh Lanjekar, owner of Lanjekar Ganpati Idols in Kasba peth said, “We have hundreds of fixed customers. This year, all manufacturers are worried about the business. Our work starts from January, but due to lockdown, the work stopped. We were not able to get raw materials and paints. The number of idols we produced, which was earlier 2,500, has now come down to half this year. There are many challenges to reach out to the public safely. We are sending the photos to our regular customers on WhatsApp and then they book their choices. We are losing customers, though.”
