Much awarded Ganesh Mandal keeps Tilak tradition alive

And for that,the mandal has till date won over 350 awards from different organisations across the state,the latest being Jai Ganesh Bhushan Award bestowed by the Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Sarvajanik Trust,and which carries a prize of Rs 1 lakh. Having topped the list of best mandals for the last three years,Jangawli says for them,the festival is not an occasion to merely revel and waste money collected by them on smaller things. “We need to focus on what we want to show to people,” he says adding,“Hence we take up themes like pollution,corruption,climate,population explosion and even illnesses like AIDS and swine flu.” In fact,in the 90s,owing to such themes,it was for five years straight from 1995 to 2000 that they won the award given by the Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Sarvajanik Trust. In addition,they have won awards from the PMC and also from the Rotary Foundation three times each.

“This year we have taken up the issue of terrorism and also of corruption. These are serious problems that we all have faced in our day to day lives and yet choose not to do anything about it. I think it is about time that people start focusing their attention on them. It is only by being self aware of the society that we can help bring about a change in it,” he says.