During the celebrations of Ganesh Chaturthi, there are certain must visit places in the state. One of those that makes it to this list is Fonte Phoenix in Mala if you want to see a beautiful dekhava created by Yuva, an NGO in Panjim that attracts a large crowd during the festival. This year, YUVA has come up with unique IoT based Ganesh Dekhava for the visitos to promote culture and communal harmony through art, culture and technology. As one enters the main entrance of the spring, there are welcomed by a unique Ganesh idol is in the posture of Saint Swami Samartha of Akkalkot, who is popularly worshipped by Goans. The ambience is of a forest that is made up entirely of paper and painted, without any use of plastic.
“The speciality of the idol this year is that once you touch the feet of Lord Ganesha to seek blessings, the volume of the background song or music lowers as the idol gives a thought or blessings, which is unique for everyone. It based on IoT and Raspberry Pi system. The song has been recorded by Dilip Vaze and Software has been created by Onkar Naik, Nikhil Kamat and Ravish Shetye. This is not the first time that these youngsters are working on a Dekhava at Mala. We have done it previously, when we did Ganesh that was writing unique messages through thermal printer,” explains Raghuvir Mahale, founder of Yuva.
The Fonte Phoenix spring has existed since time immemorial but the structure with its three domes dates back to the 1850’s. The spring is formed in a network of three domes for ventilation. The water from the hill in the backdrop flows through the rocks into the spring which is then directed into Y-shaped vents into a tunnel leading to the third dome. The silt has to be cleaned once in six months. The original structure was maintained and repaired using only limestone and jaggery. The water flows and then the mud settles down and only the fresh water flows through the vents.
Like last year, the underground tunnels of the spring are opened to the public to visit the second edition of the art exhibition, ‘Art Underground’ curated by renowned artist and art critic, Naguesh Rao Sardesai. Over 46 artists have contributed and provided their paintings for the exhibition that are exhibited on both the sides of the tunnel. Exploring the narrow pathway with ankle deep water is even
more nostalgic.
The participating artists include Leena Dubhashi, Ramanand Naik, Milind Teli, Deeplaxmi Moghe, Premanand Chari, Pandurang Nadkarni, Pradeep V Kerkar, Vasant Nagarsekar, Laxman Chari, Tanuja Nagvenkar, Shweta Uday Chari, Saylee Gaonkar, Narayan Pendse, Omkar Shirsat, Naguesh Rao Sardessai, Greta Pereira, Uma Malik, Smita Gaad, Deepak Gaad, Vasudev Shetye, Govind Tari. Shubhada Audi, Shailesh Chanekar, Shweta Solyekar, Praveen Naik, Sadanand Nadkarni, Rama Naik, Suraj Nadkarni, Kalanand Bambolkar, Shridhar Kamat Bambolkar, Renu Kalangutkar, Kalidas Satardekar, Riya R Naik, Prakash Gaonkar, Prasad Naik, Govind Silimkhann, Chirag Kamat, Archit Satardekar, Kiran Naik, Vinod Naik, Roopali Ghatwal, Priti Usapkar, Vijay Shet Mandrekar and Nishant Surlakar.
“We also have made projection mapping video that showcases how Chaturthi is celebrated by everyone irrespective of caste, creed and religion. We have an outline of Ganesh on the inner walls of the spring on which we project the video made by us on Chaturthi and it is celebrated,”
adds Raghuvir.
Besides this Ganesh Dekhava, the club also organises various camps, competitions and programs throughout the year. The Dekhava is open throughout the day till October 1. The experience is even more enriching with the light and sound effect which can be experienced post 6.30 pm.
What motivates these youngsters to present new ideas for the festival of Lord Ganesha? “We want to make use of technology and make concept simpler so that people can take back some message with them. Here, we make use of modern technology such as IoT to pass unique message through the Swami Samarth Ganesh. People appreciate and like it so much that they eagerly wait every year to see something new from us,” concludes Raghuvir.