Ganpati festival: Idol makers work around the clock as Mumbaikars prepare to bring ‘Bappa’ home

While some customers buy idols from the same shop for more than 10 years, others like their Ganesha to be made as per their specifications.

Mumbai: With Ganesh Chaturthi just three days away, there is excitement in the air in Mumbai as pandals prepare to get their big idols from workshops and families gear up to bring their household idols home.

Idol makers in the city have been working around the clock ahead of the 10-day mega festival, which begins on September 19.

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Mumbaikars, however, are a bit picky about their ‘Bappa’. While some buy idols from the same shop for more than 10 years, others like their Ganesha to be made as per their specifications.

Sunil Panchal, who owns an idol shop in the Lalbaug area of central Mumbai, says he makes idols for 300 customers every year. “I have customers who have been coming to me year after year. Some want their idol to be modelled after the Lalbaugcha Raja, Dagdusheth Ganpati or in the Titwala ‘baithak’ style. These three types of idols get sold the most,” Panchal said.

Panchal has around 400 idols in his shop, ranging from one foot to eight feet, and even entertains last-minute customers.

“There are people who come on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi or just a day before the festival to book idols, we have a stock saved for them as well,” says Panchal, who has been in the business for the last 12 years.

Customers have different ideas when they come to the shop, while most look at the idol’s eyes and face before making a choice, others look at the idol’s style, he said.

Rajesh Peddi has been selling idols at his workshop in Lalbagh for the last 10 years and has fixed customers who have been coming to him for five years or more. “I have fixed customers, some take the same model of Bappa home, like Lalbaghcha Raja, every year, while some want variety,” he says.

A regular customer at Panchal’s shop says, her family has been purchasing idols from his workshop for a decade now and they look for a different type of idol each year.

“It’s my mother who chooses the idol every year, and it is a different one every year. This time our celebration will be even more special as my father just recovered from heart surgery, and it is all thanks to Bappa,” she added.