Pune: Chants of "Ganapati Bapaa Morya" reverberated through a hostel in war-torn Ukraine , where the wail of air raid sirens has become a constant, filling a motley group of Indian students with joi de vivre. These students, who all study medicine, celebrated the Ganapati festival for all the 10 days with piety and enthusiasm. They formed a Ganesh mandal, named after their hostel – Svitanok – in Uzhhorod , a city located in the western part of the country, and installed an idol of Lord Ganesha at the hostel's reception.
The idol was immersed on Tuesday following all the traditions. The preparation began a month ahead of the festival, with students putting in long hours to create a small replica of Pune's iconic Shaniwarwada . Tejas Kiran Dhanashetty, who hails from Pune's Talegaon Dabhade, was the main driving force behind the initiative.
The fourth year MBBS student had grown up watching grand celebrations of the festival in Pune and was missing the same during his stay in Ukraine. "Initially, I decided to install the idol in my hostel room, but my friends insisted that we should make it a big celebration. So, we decided to install the idol at the hostel's reception.
There was huge response from everyone, including Ukrainian nationals who came with their families to take Bappa's blessings and attended the morning and evening aartis daily," Tejas said. Though the situation in Uzhhorod is better than in other parts of Ukraine, citizens still run for the nearest bunker whenever they hear air raid alarms. The students said that the frequency of such alarms has reduced compared to last year, but the fear of air strikes still pervades as the war is far from over.
"Many things have changed in Ukraine after the war started, and there has been no major celebration in our college or hostel in the past two years. The idea behind celebrating Ganeshotsav was to bring this celebration back, and the hostel administration allowed us to do so," Tejas said. He said that there are around 250 to 300 Indian students across Uzhhorod, and almost everyone visited the hostel to take the blessings of Bappa.
The hostel hosts 50 students, of whom 48 are from India and 2 from Nepal. "Most of these students are not from Maharashtra, and they are not very familiar with the Ganapati festival. They all participated in the celebration, and students also learned to make prasad as it is difficult to find Indian sweets in Ukraine," he said.
Khushi Sharma, from Delhi's Janakpuri, and an inmate of the same hostel, said, "Due to the war situation, we were told not to have a huge gathering or use big loudspeakers. People from all faiths, including Muslims and Christians, participated in the celebration." "Though I was not very familiar with the Ganapati festival, I have learnt many things over the last few days and have now decided to celebrate the festival at home after I return to Delhi," she added.
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