Click to play videoHyderabad: Hyderabad is celebrating the Ganesh festival with a difference. The biggest Ganesh idol of the city is reminding people of the miseries of drought, making devotees pray for more rain.
The famous lord Ganesha idol in Khairatabad is shown in his matsya avatar. There is a fish placed behind the idol and a conch shell above the head. People here widely believe the fish and the shell will bring more rains, something the whole of Andhra Pradesh is looking for this year.
"This year matsya avtaar is made because there were no rains, farmers are unhappy, everywhere is drought. So, we have prayed to god, when we started making only, it started raining," said organiser, S Sudhershan.
Besides these new additions the organisers have maintained the tradition of increasing the height of idol by one feet almost every year. In 1954, the idol was just one feet. This year the devotees need to strain their necks to look at this 50-feet tall Ganapati. Devotees in the city have great faith in this idol.
"Our wishes get fulfilled here. I have come here with that expectation," said a devotee Rajesh.
"I had a lot of interest to see lord Ganesha. And wish that my hopes come true and I hope that it will be true," said another devotee, Divya.
Apart from individual prayers, this year the devotees are also praying for more rains as well as protection from the dreaded swine flu. They are hoping that when Ganapati bappa returns next year, he would find everyone safe and happy.
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