Devotional dilemma

For instance,at Citadel Housing Society on B T Kawade Road,Dr Paritosh Gangwal,who is associated with Poona Hospital and KEM Hospital,was invited to address the society members. He gave detailed information on the H1N1 virus in an interactive session and answered queries of society residents. All the other programmes here,like dance,rangoli,singing,puppet show,magic show and tambola,however,are taking place as usual.

Says Navin Ramsinghania,a cultural committee member at Oxford Blues,Wanowrie,“At our society,we celebrate Ganesh festival only for five days. This year too,we are celebrating but unlike earlier years,when we used to have various events like fancy dress or dance competition,we aren’t having any such programmes. So,this year,it is like a small get-together but no competitions have been organised to avoid crowding.”

For the last eight years,society members of Baner Residency have been celebrating the festival with great spirit and fervour. But this year,with the mutual consent of all the residents,it was decided to curtail some of the activities,as a precautionary measure. The cultural committee reduced the number of days of celebration from seven to five. Also,various progammes like singing,drawing,sports and dance competitions did not take place. “On Wednesday,we had organised a fun fair,but on a very small scale,” says P G Lovelekar,secretary and chairman,Baner Residency.

There are also a few housing societies in the city which did not organise any programme at all. Like 25-year-old Purandar Society in Camp. Till last year,in this society,which has 150 flats,around 200-300 people used to gather for various programmes held over 10 days. “With several programmes held during the 10 days,the crowd would have around 100 children. It would have been very dangerous to continue these activities this year. So,we have just installed a small Ganesh idol in the society premises and only some mandal members attend the morning and evening aarti,” says Prashant Theorkar,secretary.

Even at Hermes Heritage,Shastri Nagar,a variety of programmes were arranged for five days,in which people from all age-groups would participate. But it was decided unanimously by all members of the cultural committee to cancel all functions. According to Nitin Prabhu,head of the cultural committee,it was in the best interest of the society members.