On Thursday, devotees will bid farewell to Lord Ganesh at Anant Chaturdashi with heavy hearts. The visarjan processions will start from Lalbaug-Parel and head towards Girgaum Chowpatty seafront. The procession will begin with the Mumbaicha Raja of Ganesh Gully at 8.00 am, followed by Lalbaugcha Raja.

Swapnil Parab, secretary of Ganesh Gully, stated that their pandal of Raigad fort celebrated the 350th anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s coronation. To honor that theme, they have organized a live act for their visarjan yatra. An actor dressed like Shivaji Maharaj will lead a palkhi.

Prashant Kadam, joint secretary of Chinchpokli Cha Chintamani, mentioned that their procession will start at 10.00 am and take about 22 hours to reach Chowpatty.

Different mandals have hired dhol tasha, lezim, and DJ bands. Colaba cha Yuvraj has created a 35-ft tall Ganpati in Shri Ram avatar, sitting on the back of Lord Hanuman. Nitesh Bandre, chairman of the mandal, highlighted that their visarjan team performs visarjan by crane in deep waters near Gateway of India the following morning.

Meanwhile, the flower shower mandals of Lalbaug have been preparing for Anant Chaturdashi for the past two months. Seva Sadhna Pushpavrushti Mandal has carved a 13-ft tall model of Lord Ram, which will shower flowers upon the Ganesh idols below as it slides apart. Satyavan Pandit, the artisan, has been diligently carving their model for 35-40 years. The mandal’s volunteers will fill the statue’s base with 200 kg of marigold petals and 100 kg of saffron colored gulal.

At Prarthana Samaj near Chowpatty, the residents of KN Bhatia housing society have arranged for 40 cooks and servers to prepare meals for over 1,000 policemen and other personnel on immersion duty. Hiten Sundhani, the organizer, mentioned that proper seating arrangements have been made in the compound. They have prepared a lavish multi-course menu, including dishes like upma, pineapple sheera, dal-rice, moong, paratha, korma, vegetables, shrikhand, dahiwada, dhokla, zeera rice, dal fry, pav, patal bhaji, and ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Tea and coffee will be served throughout the day.

Lalbaugcha Raja will be the last idol to be immersed at Girgaum Chowpatty the following morning, but other mandals are trying to delay the immersion for competition.

Religious scholar and astronomer DK Soman of Thane provided some perspective, mentioning that Ganeshotsav in its modern form began when farmers started creating small mud idols of Ganesh in the fields to thank Mother Earth for the new harvest, immersing them right there after worship. However, as moortikars started crafting beautiful idols, people wanted to worship them for longer periods of time, like 1.5, five, or seven days. The scriptures do not mention immersion on Anant Chaturdashi. This day is actually for Vishnu’s worship. Nonetheless, it is better to complete Ganpati immersion on September 28 instead of September 29, which is the first day of the Shraddh observance.