It is Mumbai's favourite festival and is celebrated each year with fervour and frenzy. But when the city welcomes "Ganpati Bappa" this Friday, the celebrations will be low key. With a cap on the size of idols, ban on processions and restrictions on devotees visiting pandals, celebrations are toned down for the second year in a row. Festival budgets have shrunk and as a result, corporate sponsorships have dried out.
Here's what your favourite celebrities have been up to.
The 10-day-long annual Ganesh Chaturthi festival began on a low-key note on Friday with several state governments prohibiting public celebrations due to the Covid pandemic and devotees taking the virtual route to pay obeisance and join the festivities.
Here's what your favourite celebrities are tweeting.
God of Cricket Sachin Tendulkar offered prayers at the famous Lalbaugcha Raja on Tuesday with his wife Anjali and son Arjun. Thousands of devotees were elated to see their favourite cricketer. Tendulkar has been vocal about his devotion for Lord Ganesha. Whenever in the city, he is a regular worshipper of 'Ganpatti Bappa' and visited the temple frequently.
A look at television celebs and their Ganpati idols!
Delhi Police on Wednesday claimed to have smashed a pan-India terror module with the arrest of six suspected Indian Mujahideen operatives, including a Pakistani, allegedly involved in blasts in Pune, Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore and Delhi's Jama Masjid.
Here's what your favourite stars are tweeting.
A look at the star arrivals.
Send us your Ganesha photos and we'll showcase them here
The latest updates from Bollywood.
We had asked our readers to mail us photos of their Ganesha. We received many entries, some of which are being showcased here.
Satish Bodas visits the homes where Ganesha brings some cheer.
Mumbaikars broke out into a riot of colours and dances with loud music amidst chants of 'Ganapati Bappa Moraya' renting the air, as lakhs of devotees took to the streets to bid adieu to their favourite deity
As the festival began on Monday morning, idols of different shapes and sizes of the elephant-headed God, the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati and considered as a symbol of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune, were installed at the sarvanjik (community) mandals and at homes by devotees.
Bollywood stars bid Lord Ganesha adieu.
Shiv Pande, secretary of the Indo British Association in the North, said the river had been adopted by British Hindus as their own Ganges. The association, which organised the ceremony, aims to promote better understanding between British and Indian people.
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The girl was left with a fractured nose after a man allegedly hit her repeatedly for asking him and his friends not to argue among themselves loudly in Kurla-Nehru Nagar
Married women pray to Goddess Gauri for marital bliss and the long life of their husbands. Unmarried girls worship her in order to get virtuous husbands.
Chants of "Ganpati Bappa Morya, pudchya varshi lavkar ya" rented the air as a procession carrying the biggest idols of the elephant god started from many places.
A look at the guest arrivals.
We bring you glimpses from one of Mumbai's oldest pandals, Mumbaicha Raja.
Some of the exiting entries for Lord Ganesha's visit straight from our readers' homes.
After spending 10 days with his devotees, Lord Ganesha returns to his abode on Thursday marking the last day of Ganesha visarjan. Rediff.com captures the joy and processions on the last day of the Ganesha festival.
Take a few style tips from Bollywood!
Not everything the devotees consigned to the sea on Monday at the end of the 11-day Ganpati festival is retained, a lot of it is in fact comes washing up in the tide. Paloma Sharma/Rediff.com speaks to the volunteers involved in the clean-up.
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The worst is over. It is not raining now. The forecast says it will, but the sun is shining outside the office window - that, and the way Mumbaikars opened their homes, offices and hearts is reason to cheer.
It was early Diwali celebration for the Mumbai City FC team as they blanked FC Pune City 5-0 at the noisy DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai on Saturday night.
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The 10-day Ganesh festival began on Saturday under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, with devotees restricting celebrations to their homes and using online platforms to get 'darshan' of the Lord at temples, amid strict COVID-19 restrictions imposed by governments.
They live on the road under a temporary, plastic roof. But, for 11 days, Lord Ganesha finds a home in their abode.
