Bappa bid adieu from the sky

While many Mumbaiites saw the Ganpati immersions, which happened across the city last week, on their television sets at home, a few lucky devotees of Ganpati Bappa got an unique opportunity to witness the visarjan from the skies.

While many Mumbaiites saw the Ganpati immersions, which happened across the city last week, on their television sets at home, a few lucky devotees of Ganpati Bappa got an unique opportunity to witness the visarjan from the skies.

HT Image

On the last day of Ganeshotsav on September 22, Hindustan Times had organised a helicopter ride for 16 people, who got a completely different view of the immersions. The ride was organised specifically for parents with children in the age group of 7-12 years. They just had to SMS htganesha to 54242 and winners were picked randomly from the 8,000 SMSes that Hindustan Times received.

“We could see Juhu beach and the entire city. To see aamchi Mumbai from a helicopter was a great experience, which will always remain in my memory,” said 41-year-old Bhavesh Dattani, one of the winners. There were three 45-minute helicopter rides, all of which took off from the Juhu Aerodrome.

For most winners, it was their first helicopter ride. “It was an unique experience. I have never experienced anything so beautiful before,” said Kishore Jaswani, a bank employee, also one of the winners.