Bak Bak Bilal: Why Won’t People Go Eco Friendly on Ganpati?

Why are people still using POP idols when they could switch to the eco friendly ones.

Bak Bak Bilal on why Mumbaikar’s are still using POP idols

(Image: The Quint)

Ganpati Bappa Morya is the chant you have heard from your windows in the past 10 days or so. The festival is full of happiness and filled with a lot of prayers. People travel and wait in lines for hours to take blessings from famous iconic pandals of the city.

The last and final day of this festival which is also the most happening one came to an end on 12 September. Mumbai’s beaches were filled with people from all across the city for the immersion of their idols in the sea.

The festival takes an ugly turn the day after the final day of the festival when the idols which are made out of POP (Plaster of Paris) do not dissolve in the sea. Either they are thrown back on land by the waves or they remain underwater for months causing damage to the flora and fauna of the sea.

How did Mumbaikars come together the morning after the city bid adieu to Ganpati Bappa? More than 1,200 Mumbaikars on Juhu beach come out to help clean up the debris and garbage left behind by the festivities.

We did this video to show the two sides of Mumbaikars. First being the ones who unite to bid farewell to Bappa and the second being the ones who unite the next morning to clean all the mess that was created the previous day. We hope this video reaches the right people who now have a year to think about the fact that they can choose not go for POP idols next year and instead choose the eco friendly way.

Camera: Sanjoy Deb

Editor: Veeru Krishan Mohan

Producer: Bilal Jaleel