Pune: The public Ganesha festival started by Bal Gangadhar Tilak to bring Indians together, celebrate their common identity and traditions is being cultivated in the United Kingdom soil as well. Like every year this year also Birmingham, UK Marathi Mitra Mandal Midlands celebrated Ganesh Utsav(festival) with great pomp at Shirley Community Centre, Solihull UK.

Hundreds of people had gathered to worship beloved Bappa. A decorated idol of Ganapati Bappa was the focal point of the grand public celebration. Ganesha devotees, children, youth, women and old, enjoy dancing in the procession of the beautifully decorated Ganesha idol, accompanied by the roar of Shiva performed by a grand troupe of dhol drums, to the sound of drums and tasha full of enthusiasm. Bappa was welcomed with cheers chanting Ganpati Bappa Morya. The idol was installed to the sound of conch shell. Mrs. Sujata Mathur, a female priest, performed Ganesh Puja in the unique tradition of Marathi Mitra Mandal Midlands women performing pooja. Devotees chanted Atharvashirsha and sought the blessings of Bappa, the sound of bells and melodious aarti bhajans filled the atmosphere. The atmosphere was euphoric as devotees worshiped their beloved deity. In the children's painting activity, the children drew beautiful Ganesha pictures and made the parents and Ganesha devotees especially happy.

After the pooja everyone was given Mahaprasad of special Maharashtrian food and amras puri. Ganapati Utsav was at its core a testament to inclusiveness and unity.

Shrikant Jondhale, Smita Honap, Nutan Honap, Anand Padaki and other activists were specially involved in making Ganesh Utsav a success.

Marathi Mitra Mandal Midlands is working tirelessly to bring the Marathi community together in all festivals and celebrate our traditions. These include surgeons, doctors, engineers, dentists, actors, teachers, lawyers, etc. There are more than 1200 such members from all walks of life. Gudipadwa, Ganpati and Diwali festivals are celebrated every year. Women groups celebrate other cultural activities like Bhondla, Haldi Kunku, Mangalore etc. These festivals help UK-born children to keep in touch with and follow our rich traditions. This is our small attempt to maintain our identity during this testing period. This information was given by Srikant Jondhale, Smita Honap, Nutan Honap and Anand Padaki.