Muslims to lead Ganesh’s immersion in Mumbai:

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Mumbai: Hundreds of Muslims and Christians will join a colourful parade to immerse a clay idol of Lord Ganesh off the shores of Mumbai on Wednesday, reasserting communal solidarity in a city rocked by religious violence in the past. There will be hundreds of other noisy, vibrant processions meandering through crowded streets in this city of 17 million people, but perhaps none as vivid as the one led by Asad Zaidi and Hussain Babai. The two Muslims say their musical parade carries a strong message of communal harmony. "Celebrating the festival of Lord Ganesh is part of being Indian, and this is our way of showing solidarity with the rest of the country," said Zaidi, 37, a popular disc jockey. "I'm no less a Muslim because I do this, in fact I become a better one. Tolerance is Islam's most important message for me." Zaidi and Babai, also a prominent disc jockey, will put together an ensemble of fire dancers, stilt walkers, fashion models, street urchins and celebrities who will sway to a hypnotic electronic beat from speakers stacked on a 40-foot trailer truck. "There's no Hindi film music, popular tunes or anything that takes away from the sanctity of the festival," said Zaidi, who has been organising the procession with Babai for the past seven years. "We remix old prayer songs, and everything we play sounds spiritual, with melody lines that touch your heart." The parade -- called "United We Dance" -- has grown each year, swelling to include some 5,000 people last year. While the majority of revellers are Hindu, there are hundreds of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Parsi, Sikh and Jain participants as well, the organisers say. Revellers will first gather outside the landmark Mahalaxmi Hindu temple in South Mumbai and move across the sweep of waterfront close to the celebrated Haji Ali mosque. There, Hindu priests will immerse a crystal-studded Ganesh idol in the Arabian Sea amid the chanting of religious hymns and the frenzied beating of drums and cymbals. Mumbai comes to a virtual standstill on the final day of the annual Ganesh festival, when multitudes hit the streets to immerse idols of the popular god off the city's shores, throwing traffic out of gear. The police presence is usually substantial but this year security has been tightened further after train bombings in July in which at least 186 people were killed and more than 700 wounded. Police officials say such huge a congregation could be a soft target and Arup Patnaik, the city's Joint Commissioner of Police, told Reuters that security along the city's most popular beaches had been raised. [Reuters]

Best wishes,

Suman Mukherjee

India.