After Ayodhya act, Pune’s conch shell troop to fire up sentiment during Ganesh visarjan 

“We are also preparing for a large presentation at Kashi Vishwanath, with 551 performers, as well as to create a world record in October this year. From our troop, more than 300 conch blowers will perform at the visarjan. We will also include the damru and tutari as well,” said Nitin Mahajan, president of the pathak.

“After inauguration of the Ram Mandir, we have noticed that people are more inclined to religiosity. In Pune, the number of attendees seems to have broken all records. In the same spirit, the Keshav Shankhnaad Pathak has been performing during the aarti at four mandals every day, from Dagduseth to Mandai Ganpatis. On Sunday, we were at Bhausaheb Rangari Ganpati Mandal, where the Vice Chief of the Army Staff, Lieutenant General NS Raja Subramani performed the evening Maha aarti,” he added.

On Tuesday, from 7 am to 8 pm, as many as 300 shankh vaadaks will pay tribute to Bhausaheb Rangari, to be followed by Sharada Ganpati at Mandai and the five Manache Ganpati. “In the evening, 351 conch blowers will be at Alka Chowk (Tilak Chowk) performing during the visarjan,” said Mahajan.

Unlike dhol-tasha troops who begin practice a few weeks before Ganeshotsav, Keshav Shankhnaad Pathak conducts a course that spans January to August, so that their art form is finely honed by the time festivals arrive. The only time they have to stall lessons is when their ground at Sri Omkareshwar Mandir experiences floods and makes practice impossible.

“It happened a couple of times but it does not matter as participants are full of enthusiasm. We practise at home and online,” said Mahajan. This year, as many as 1,200 people enrolled to learn to blow the conch shell, of which 300-350 will participate in the visarjan. This is a huge leap from the four students who enrolled with the pathak in 2017.

“It was after the pandemic that people realised that blowing the conch improves health. After the group performed in Ayodhya, the number of participants increased exponentially. In 2019, we had only 100 conch blowers for the Ganesh visarjan,” said Mahajan. From 2017 up till this year, as many as 2,500 have enrolled with the group to learn how to blow the conch.