Ganesh Chaturthi is around the corner and the television fraternity are busy preparing to welcome to Lord Ganpati with pomp and splendour. After the 11 day long celebration of the deity, the humongous Ganpati idols will be immersed into the sea amidst bustling fanfare. Though everyone craves and waits for the celebrations to begin, there is one television actor who has a contradictory point of view that will make you think.
The 34 year old TV actor Anuj Sachdeva informed, he celebrated a different kind of Ganesh Chaturthi, last year. Instead of bringing Ganpati at his place, Anuj raised money and donated it to an NGO named Wildlife SOS. The NGO located in Mathura is an exclusive elephant conservation and care centre.
Sachdev shared his ideology with Tellychakkar.com, quipped he, “During one Ganesh Visarjan, years ago, I saw dogs urinating on the broken heads of the Ganesh idols that were scattered on the sea-shores. Come to think of it, in these visarjans, there are truckloads of sloshed men grooving to the tunes of crass songs How is that even related to the festival? I could not be one with the fact that commercialism has crept in this festival as well .”
A self-claimed Ganpati believer, Sachdeva pointed out that post the whole incident he decided to spend money on elephants (because they are considered to be a swaroop of Ganpati). “We ill-treat them! Elephants are a reference for Bappa and we make them beg, we travel on them. It is so sad.
We spend so much money on POP idols and treat real life elephants so badly.”
Wildlife SOS NGO serves retired and old elephants. The TV actor approached the NGO and made sure the money he collected through online transfers was utilised in a right way. Anuj, raised more than one lakh rupees last year, said he, “I started raising money for the NGO so that the NGO workers can take proper care of the elephants there. Even Ramesh Taurani helped with raising the money.”
Anuj also divulged his viewpoints on the Ganpati festival. He remarked, “Ganpati ke naam pe mazak bana rahe hai (The Ganpati festivities are a sham). It’s all about competition and sponsorship these days. When I started speaking about this concept some actors boycotted me because they thought I’m against Ganpati. They stopped inviting me at their place during Ganeshotsav.”
This year as well, Anuj who is best known for his role in Star Plus’ Sabki Laadli Bebo is planning to do the same thing. “Last year when I was there, I bathed a crippled elephant while we were on a walk. That was my visarjan. I’ll continue to do the same thing this year.”
Well, Anuj Sachdeva’s noble cause does require attention as he rightly said, “We see everything but we choose to ignore it.”
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