Ganeshotsav 2026

Ganeshotsav is a 10-day festival celebrated in the praise of Lord Ganesha, a Hindu god worshipped for his powers to remove unwanted hurdles from any tasks. His presence is considered auspicious and hence rituals worshipping him are performed before the start of any new venture for e.g. marriages, house warming, new business, construction, etc. During this festival, devotees all over the India create Pandals (makeshift bamboo encasements) with various themes and sculpt Ganesha's statues matching the theme. It's always super fun hopping from pandal to pandal getting repeatedly stunned by devotees creativity. This year's edition of the festival was celebrated from 14th to 25th September 2026, and I was in my home town for a day to enjoy the festival. To give you an idea of the scale of celebration: I spent 6 hours in a single evening walking through tightly packed lanes in a small radius of 500m, and that wasn't enough to cover all the pandals in that area! This is a minuscule part of…