SHILPA PRIYADARSHINI, OP
Kataka: Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations have brought a festive atmosphere to urban and rural areas, with various clubs making elaborate preparations for the annual festival.
While some are creating elaborate decorations using gold, silver or brass, Kataka-based businessman Arjun Tibrewal has made a Ganesh pandal entirely from waste materials.
A resident of the Gujarati Colony in Kesarpur, Arjun has designed the pandal in the shape of Kataka’s famous Bali Yatra and Boita Bandana celebrations.
The pandal is 5 feet wide, 6 feet long and 3 feet high.
Arjun, son of Sushila Devi Tibrewal and the late Jugal Kishore Tibrewal, has been making different types of Ganesh pandals at his home for the past 20 years. For this year’s Ganesh Puja, he began making the Bali Yatra-themed pandal about two months ago.
The pandal depicts various features associated with Bali Yatra, including a Boita gate, Boita Bandana, Ramdoli, cultural stage, and food and clothing stalls. Waste materials such as cardboard boxes, newspapers, bottles, sticks and ribbons have been used to make the structure. It will later be decorated with different colors.
Arjun said Boita Bandana is now celebrated using paper boats, while people are gradually forgetting the traditional practice of floating boats made from banana stems and leaves.
He said the pandal was created to remind people of the tradition and spread awareness about preventing water pollution.
About Rs 6,000 has been spent on the pandal, and his entire family has helped him make it, he said.
