16 Sep 2018 | 04:44am IST
Innovation during the festive season
A group of youngsters from Bastora have been setting up decorations for Ganesh Chaturthi in different places in Goa. The 35-odd-member group is letting their creative energies flow during the festive season with their different set-ups of Lord Ganesha. Café speaks to Siddesh Tiloji, who is leading the youngsters
Ganesh
Chaturthi is a colourful festival
that brings out the artistic side of an individual. Even if one
doesn’t have the talent to create art and craft, they can happily depend on the
artisans in Goa, who add beautiful touches in creating unique and innovative
decorations. For Ganesh Chaturthi, it is the entire altar that garners the
attention of visitors. While the focus is on the idol itself, the entire
backdrop of the altar also requires painstaking detailing.
A group of youngsters from the village of Bastora in North Goa,
that call themselves Cat Boys, has been preparing various designs and
backdrops, every year for Ganesh Chaturthi since 2007. Though their main focus
is on creating prize-winning floats for Shigmo and Carnival, the festival of
Ganesh Chaturthi is one time of the year when they are working throughout the
clock to meet with the demands for new designs for decorations. This year was
no different as the boys have done the decorations at the residence of Shubham
Parsekar, opposite Snow Park, Baga, the statues of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
and his subjects at the Mapusa Police Station, a set up next to the Carvalho
Petrol Pump, Mapusa and the residence of Ritesh Varkhandkar in Colvale.
Siddesh Tiloji from Birmottem, Bastora has been leading the
village boys along with Pradeep Naik and Sandeep Naik. The boys are aged
between 18 to 33 years and consists of nearly 35 members. “We have been very
busy for the last two months, creating various set ups. We started nearly 15
days before Shravan as it gets really hectic to meet deadlines when orders are
placed at the last minute. We take orders nearly a month in advance but
sometimes we get orders just a few days in advance,” says 33-year-old Siddesh.
For the residence of Shubham Parsekar, the boys created a moving
decoration of Lord Ganesha breaking Dahi Handi by climbing up on a pyramid of
mice. At the Mapusa Police Station, the side portion of the room is a set-up of
a moving statue of Shivaji Maharaj as he is addressing the subjects of his
kingdom; this set-up will be on display for nine days of the festival. “We
start planning designs by looking at various ideas and photos. Once the main
design is ready, then the boys start working on the fibre and metal work.
Everyone is very hardworking and the unity of the boys keeps the creativity
going,” explains Siddesh. They also rent out decorations to many places in Goa
like Lord Vithoba in Arambol and Sant Tukaram at Mapusa.
Since the boys are either studying in college or working, they
make time for the decorations only in the evenings from 7pm to 11pm and to
catch up with deadlines, they work even through the night. “Since working on
thermocol is not eco-friendly, we now work on metal and fibre for the finer
details. These artworks can be dismantled and reused and I store them at home
itself. Everyone gathers at my residence to work as we don’t have a separate
workshop or store house,” he says.
The
youngsters are so passionate about their work that they didn’t get time to
prepare the decorations for their own homes as they were busy completing these
projects. Siddesh works with his brother, Chetan, and their Ganesh idol is the
biggest in the ward. “Our Ganesh idol is venerated for 11 days and all the
villagers of the ward and these boys are at our place during these days. It is
a great joy to celebrate the festival as one community. We started decorating
our own house on the first day of Ganesh Chaturthi,” concludes Siddesh.
