'First time in 25 years we will not be having visitors during Ganpati'

Mumbai, Aug 23 Actor Aadar Jain has said that the way of celebrating Ganpati festival is different amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, but the spirit is the same.

"We have been celebrating Ganpati at our house for the last 25 years. It's a very, very special time and occasion at home. It's a festive period as we are all bhakts of Ganpatiji at home. We keep Ganpati for all 10 days and we really treat him like our dear guest.

"We decorate the entire house and we make the house very festive and we have a lot of visitors coming over. However, this time it's going to be different due to the Covid situation we can't be having any visitors. Of course, we will be doing zoom and facetime calls for people to join in for the aarti," Aadar said.

He continued: "First time in 25 years we will not be having visitors. It's going to be a private affair keeping the safety measures in mind. However, it will still be as festive and special because the festival means a lot to us. We obviously will be sad that visitors can't come over and do the darshan as a lot of people use to come over and pray to our Ganpati as they believed in it. Over the past 25 years, our house has been open to anybody and everybody from all walks of life for darshan. Unfortunately, this year due to the Covid situation, we will have to follow the safety measures and protocols."

Aadar has opted for eco-friendly Ganpati, and shared: "Every year on Visarjan, we go to Chowpaty for immersion. However, this year we won't be doing that. This is the first time we have got an eco-friendly Ganpati and I am extremely happy and proud of it. It is very important that while we do immerse our Ganpati in the future we should be doing it in an eco-friendly manner and be cautious to protect the environment. We are going to do the immersion at home for the first time. There will be no dhol baaja and we will be doing the immersion in a quiet manner at home."

"I really hope and pray that Ganpati Bappa takes away this pandemic along with him and brings back some normalcy to everyone's life and helps us overcome this virus," said the actor, who is currently busy with his next film "Hello Charlie".

( With inputs from IANS )