Ganesh Puja on Sep 03

The Oriya community in Pune celebrated Ganesh Puja at Arshirwad Mangala Karlaya , Hadapsar , on Sep 03 organised by Utkal Samaj Pune. Ganesh Puja is a festival of usually students , but adults participate in it eagerly as the son of Sival is the remover of all obstacles , the path of success in one's endeavours. Ganesh famed for his intellectual brilliance and so students are attracted to him to achieve similar powers

The preparation for this event started two weeks before the function, with the c

ore members of Utkal Samaj sitting down to bring the Oriya community together to celebrate a event that is close to everyones heart. On Sep 02 , the core team - Saroaj Tripathy, Arun Mohanty, , Sandeep Sahoo, Sumantar Rout, Ganesh Sahoo , Krishna Rath, Amiya Panda and Durgeswar Bahalia - battled traffic and rain to ensure that the event held would be smooth. The decoration activities ended at 2 AM on Sep 03!

By 9 AM , the hall preparations started, with the establishment of the Ganesh

Idol. The arrangments as the vistors discovered, highlighted the message of

the Proposed Jagannath Temple to be built in Pune. The walls were decorated with the pictures of the proposed land and there was a beautiful and cute model of the Jagannath temple land made by Mr & Mrs Tripathy. The model showed the road marks to the proposed land in near Undri toll nakka.

As the Oriya community gathered and started interacting with each other, expanding their contacts and building new relations, there was frantic activity in the kitchen. Amiya Panda, who took the charge for the food, was commanding the cooks.

Left: Durgeswar poses for the camera while Sumantar observes Amiya giving that special touch to the Odiya Ghanto.

The Ganesh Puja started with Mr and Mrs Tripathy provided all the support they

could for the puja. Oriyas poured into the hall, offered their prayers to Lord Ganesha.

The puja ended with a puspanjali.

Shri Amulya Kumar Bal, the president of Utkal Samaj, thanked the auidence for their time. He requested the Oriya community to come forward and

contribute wholeheartedly to the upcoming Jagannath temple. The proposed land is already almost finalized, what now remains is how we, the Oriya community, can come forward and build the temple. He also thanked the people who had come all the way from Pimpri and other distant places. The hall resonated with the sound of claps, as the discussion for the Jagannath temple took place.

Lunch was served - Bhato, Dalli and Odiya Ghanto. Delicious it was! As everyone was eating, the question that one their lips "when is the next time we are going to meet, so that we can have such good Odiya food!" while others were excited about the idea about the Jagannath temple.

The Utkal Samaj Pune thanks everyone who participated in the event.