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With just a day to go for the Ganesh Chaturthi festival celebrations in Goa, people from all walks of life are bustling in the streets of Panaji to make last-minute purchases for the festival.
"Ganesh Chaturthi will be celebrated across Goa tomorrow, the festivities may have just begun, but some preparations had been started well in advance. Shopkeepers have been busy selling all the essential items related to the puja of Lord Ganesha," a shop owner told ANI. The streets are filled with people who have come in to make last-minute purchases for the festival. Vendors are busy selling 'Matoli' items such as betelnuts, local citrus fruits, coconuts and fresh flowers, incense and sweets, he added. Apart from Matoli bazaar, stalls with decorative articles and firecrackers are lined up in designated areas, making it a one-stop shopping for people visiting the municipal market, said another shopowner. Earlier today, Gowd Saraswat Brahaman (GSB) Seva Mandal, ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi, installed an idol of Lord Ganesh adorned with 69 kg of gold and 336 kg of silver in Mumbai. A representative of the GSB Seva Mandal told ANI this year it received 36 kg of silver and a 250-gram gold pendant for Ganesh Chathurthi. This donation has increased the total gold in the idol to 69 kg and the total silver to 336 kg. The Ganesh Chaturthi festival, which falls in the Bhadrapada month of the Hindu calendar, marks the birthday of Lord Ganesha, son of Shiva and Parvati. Also known as Vinayak Chaturthi or Ganeshotsav, the festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha's clay idols privately in homes and publicly on elaborate pandals (temporary stage). The 10-day festival ends when the idol is carried in a public procession with music and group chanting, then immersed in a nearby body of water such as a river or sea, called visarjan on the day of Anant Chaturdashi. The festival celebrates Ganesha as the God of New Beginnings and the Remover of Obstacles as well as the god of wisdom and intelligence. This year the Ganesh Chaturthi festival will begin on September 19 and will continue for ten days until September 29. (ANI)
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