Darshans, arathi take virtual route amid pandemic

To maintain the festive mood many are busy creating social media links, arranging virtual darshans and ensuring safety and health protocols for those who will be there with the elephant-headed deity. Marathi Mitra Mandal, Alaknanda, one of the oldest mandals in NCR region, will hold arathi and darshans on Facebook live. “This is the second time in 35 years we are bringing Bappa for only one and a half days. It is difficult to organise festivals during pandemic and breaking tradition is considered to be a bad omen,” Nivedita Pande, member of the organising committee said.

Gurgaon-based Sarvajanik Ganeshotsava Samiti, in its 28th year, will have online celebrations for a week since this year marks the 100th death anniversary of Lokmanya Tilak, the founder of Ganpati festival. “There will be no physical darshan, everything will be online only. We are not even revealing the place where we are having idol sthapana,” said Jeevan Talegaonkar, another member of the organising committee.