BBC article dated July 19, by Alpesh Karkare …
India’s Ganesh idol makers count the cost of devastating floods
Over 300,000 idols have been damaged in the devastating rains. Standing among the broken remains of hundreds of clay idols in his workshop in India’s Raigad district, sculptor Dilip Mhatre struggles to hold back his emotions. Just weeks before Ganesh Chaturthi, one of the country’s biggest religious festivals honouring the Hindu deity Ganesha, floods have destroyed six months of his work.
The 40-year-old had completed about 500 clay idols of the elephant-headed god, worth around 800,000 rupees ($8,300; £6,200), which were due to be delivered across the western state of Maharashtra, where Raigad is located, over the coming weeks. “But the flood washed everything away,” he says. “We have no idols, no moulds and no raw material. We don’t know how we’ll fulfil the orders now.”
Mhatre’s loss is part of a wider crisis unfolding in Raigad. Every year, millions of families and community groups install clay idols of Ganesha during Ganesh Chaturthi before immersing them in water at the end of the celebrations. Most of those idols are made in Raigad, where some 20,000 workshops produce up to eight million idols each year. The industry provides seasonal employment to around 150,000 people and generates around 3.5bn rupees in annual sales, making it the economic backbone of many families in the region.
This year, however, floods have damaged thousands of idols and hundreds of workshops, disrupting supplies and threatening the livelihoods of thousands of artisans. “Around a million Ganesh idols were damaged by heavy rains across the district,” says Sachin Patil, president of the Ganesh Murtikar Utkarsh Mandal, an association representing idol makers in the region.
He said around 3,000 idol-making workshops were affected by the rain. Local authorities have started surveying the damage. Government official Tanaji Shejal told BBC Marathi that financial assistance would be provided under government rules once the assessments were completed. For many sculptors, including Mahendra Patil, idol-making is their sole source of income. Heavy monsoon rain is a regular feature in Maharashtra, and Raigad’s sculptors have long learnt to protect their workshops from seasonal flooding. This year, however, the downpour overwhelmed their usual defences.
Raigad received more than 548mm (21.6in) of rain between 5 and 7 July – almost as much as the 663mm recorded during the whole of July last year, according to India’s weather department. The deluge overwhelmed rivers and drainage systems, triggering widespread flooding across the district. Sculptors say they are used to protecting their workshops by covering them with plastic sheets and raising the idols above ground.
But this time, days of torrential rain and strong winds overwhelmed those defences as floodwaters rose several feet. “In the past, rainwater would collect in the village but never reach the workshop area,” says Mhatre. “This time, everything was washed away.” Most idols damaged in the rains cannot be sold Many artisans lost not only finished idols but also moulds and raw materials such as clay and plaster of Paris, making it impossible to start again.
Making a Ganesh idol is a labour-intensive process involving moulding, casting, sculpting, drying and painting. Even a small idol, selling for about $5-$8, can take up to two weeks to complete. Larger idols for community celebrations can cost tens of thousands of rupees and take weeks to make. Mhatre estimates this year’s floods have cost him about 1.2m rupees. Idol-making is his family’s only source of income and has paid for household expenses and his children’s education for three decades.
Now he has been forced to tell customers that he cannot fulfil their orders. “People were disappointed but we simply had no alternative,” he says, adding that he is planning to take a loan and return customers’ advance payments. Dilip Mhatre lost all his work in the floods triggered by heavy rainfall. For many artisans, the damage is irreversible. Most rain-soaked idols cannot be sold, they told BBC Marathi, and only those with minor damage can sometimes be dried, repaired and reused.
Some workshop owners had insurance, but they say the payouts are unlikely to cover their losses. Anita Patil, 53, who owns an idol-making workshop in Kalve village, is one of them. “If the actual loss is 1m rupees, the insurance payout may be only around 10,000 rupees,” she says. “There are many conditions attached to these policies and getting meaningful compensation is not easy.” She says the floods have thrown off their entire production cycle. “So many of our idols have been soaked that we don’t even know which ones can be salvaged.”
Recovery could take months – or even years – for some workshops. The impact is likely to extend beyond Raigad, with sculptors warning that some international orders may now be delayed. “International demand had already slowed because of the global economy,” says Patil. “Now the floods will delay some overseas orders. We may have to rely on sculptors outside Raigad to fulfil them.” Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with pomp and fervour across Maharashtra The floods have forced many sculptors to rethink how they prepare for future monsoons.
Some plan to install permanent plastic roofing, raise platforms and strengthen barriers, while others say they will move idols indoors or to higher ground when heavy rain is forecast. But those changes will have to wait. With Ganesh Chaturthi just weeks away, the immediate priority is salvaging whatever they can and honouring customer orders. Sculptor Mahendra Patil has spent days calling neighbouring workshops in the hope of sourcing replacement idols, but says the chances are slim.
“With the festival so close, it is impossible to remake the same number of idols,” he says. “If we cannot source idols from elsewhere, we will have to refund the advance payments.” Across Raigad, workshops submerged only days ago are slowly returning to life. Artists are drying and repairing whatever idols they can save, clearing debris and trying to salvage a season many feared was lost. Few expect to recover financially anytime soon, but most say abandoning the craft that has sustained their families for generations is not an option.
Detailed explanation of words and phrases used in the above article
Count the cost of …. It means ‘to make an estimate of’ or ‘to assess the loss of’
Example sentences…Long after the Middle East armed conflict is over, Iran, Israel, and the U.S. will be counting the cost of starting this war.
The COVID epidemic is long gone. However, the damage it did to our social fabric and to our economy was enormous. Many countries in Asia and Africa still count the cost of its ravaging impact.
At the cost of …. It means ‘doing something that results is some loss to anything/anybody else’.
Example sentences… I studied for abnormally long hours before my Final examination. My parents were happy to see my involvement in studies, but were afraid that I was doing so much labour at the cost of my health.
The judge cautioned the lawyer to be brief in their argument and not prolong it at the cost of the court’s time.
Devastating… It’s used as an adjective here. It means ‘highly damaging’.
Example sentence.. The news of the sudden death of her mother-law was very devastating for our English teacher. She left the school in a hurry to head towards her village.
Idol as noun … It means a statue.
Idol as verb.. It means ‘to respect someone hugely and even irrationally’.
Example sentences….. Our teacher advised us to learn all the good qualities of Swami Vivekananda. He told us not to idolise him needlessly as he was a human being like all of us.
Sculptor…. A sculptor is a person who uses his imagination and skills to make statues or pieces of art out of stone or earth.
Struggle as noun …. It means a hard and difficult effort that may take a long time.
Example sentences… Mahatma Gandhi was the most prominent leader of our freedom struggle.
I was weak in mathematics from my early school days. So, passing the bank clerk examination was a big struggle for me.
Struggle as verb… The climber had a small injury in his left foot. So, he struggled to climb the rock.
Hold as noun …. It means ‘control’.
The wife has little hold on her alcoholic husband.
Hold as verb… It means ‘to catch’.
My old mother holds my hand whenever she goes to the crowded market to buy something.
Hold has a few phrasal verbs such as …….Hold back, Hold on. Hold in, Hold out, Hold off, Hold with.
Hold out .. It has more than one meaning.
Meaning 1 .. It means ‘to stretch’. I was swimming in the river when a strong water current swept me away. I cried out for help. Luckily for me, a fishing boat was passing close to me. The boatman held out his hand, which I grabbed instantly. I was rescued.
Meaning 2 .. It means ‘to last’. It was getting late for the school bus. I could eat just two pieces of bread before rushing out of my house. I wondered if such a small breakfast would hold out till 1.30 pm when the school bell rings announcing its closure.
Meaning 3 … It means ‘to refuse to surrender or submit’. The Ukrainian soldiers held out bravely for nearly three weeks to keep the Russian invaders away.
Meaning 4 .. It means ‘to withhold something expected or due’. The judge felt angry when the witness was found to be holding out details of the crime scene.
Hold back .. Meaning 1 .. It means ‘to restrain or check’. Delhi Police held back the protesters in Jantar Mantar through the use of batons and tear gas.
Meaning 2 .. It means ‘to retain possession of’. My father had given me Rs.1000 for buying gifts for my friends. I spent Rs.900 and held back Rs.100.
Hold in .. It means ‘to exercise restraint’. The wife was raging against her husband who had not returned from the party. ‘When he finally returned, she held herself in for fear of uttering something very unpleasant to him.
Hold on … It’s a phrasal verb. It means ‘to wait for a short while’ or ‘to maintain ownership’.
Example sentences…. When the roof started leaking due to a midnight downpour, we felt very uncomfortable. We informed the landlord over the phone. He advised us to somehow hold on till morning when he would surely have the leak plugged by a mason.
In the crucial cricket final match, the fielder caught the ball very smartly but couldn’t hold on to it. The batsman remained not out.
As a result of Ukraine’s continuous drone attacks, Russia is struggling to hold on to the Ukrainian territory it occupied in the past three years.
Hold back…. When I saw Lord Jagannath’s face for the first time inside the temple, I was overwhelmed with devotion and deep satisfaction. I struggled to hold back my tears of joy.
The lady army officer received the dead body of her husband, who was commanding an army unit. Despite army restrictions on crying while on duty, she couldn’t hold back her tears.
Emotions…. It means ‘strong feelings of the mind’.
Emotional .. On listening to the bhajans, many devotees of Lord Jagannath became emotional, and began to cry.
Emotive .. Cow slaughter has always been an emotive issue for Hindus. A majority among them demand a ban on such killing.
Mould as noun .. It means a frame or a cavity needed for making idols or similar things with complicated shapes.
The potter has many different moulds of gods and goddesses. He uses them to make deities.
Mould as verb.. It means ‘to give a certain shape’.
Gandhiji moulded his followers to practice non-violence as a way of life.
Crisis .. It means ‘a very difficult situation ’.
Unfold .. It means ‘to spread or reveal’.
In the carpet shop. The salesman unfolded a variety of Kashmiri carpets before us. We decided to buy not one but two carpets.
Or
A dangerous maritime scenario is unfolding in the Strait of Hormuz and in the Red Sea where merchant ships come under fire from soldiers on land.