The Hindu Business Line : Idol makers keep faith

SUNIL Shinde's story had two halves. Some from his trade with `factories' on higher ground talked of losses suffered by idol makers whose premises were flooded by the Bhogawati river in the early hours of July 25. Shinde himself was calm, even optimistic, despite knowing that his business had been washed out ahead of the Ganapathy festival in September.

"I will be back next year,'' he said. Inside the still damp Supriya Kala Mandir in Shankar Nagar, rows of clay Ganesha idols sat, soggy to the touch. Clay is environment-friendly, unlike the more popular Plaster of Paris idols. Shinde paid dearly for making clay Ganeshas. Meant to dissolve quickly in water, they did just that when the river water came. Of 7,500 stored on his premises, Shinde lost 2,500. Idols of a God, disposal of the damaged entailed a trip to the river, ironically an early visarjan (immersion).

But he had some business happening; outside a Ganapathiche Gadi (Ganapathy's vehicle, as trucks carrying the idols called themselves) loaded still dry idols for transport to Ambernath. Which was what the idol makers of Pen were struggling to communicate after news appeared of heavy losses at factories and resultant shortage of Ganeshas.

"Of 500 idol factories in Pen, only 20-25 were affected by flooding,'' said Shrikant Vamanrao Deodhar, President, Sri Ganesh Murthikar Ani Vyavasayik Kalyankari Mandal and a fourth generation player in the trade. Pen is the centre of Ganesha-making in Maharashtra. The idol business was considered to be the town's biggest trade and a couple of these entrepreneurs were directors of the local co-operative bank. On Thursday, over half-a-dozen trucks were loading idols headed for markets such as Mumbai, Pune, Kalyan and Bhiwandi.

It was a business totally focused on one festival, when an estimated 5-10 lakh idols left factories here for families, who had been buying from the same idol maker for years. "That link won't snap, my agent won't leave me even though I am out this season," Shinde said. Firm belief at Pen's factories was that despite flood and disease in many parts of the State, people would celebrate Ganapathy.

"They won't go back on the festival. At best, they may down-trade to smaller idols, which too in orthodox Maharashtrian families is a delicate decision," Deodhar said. "Our orders are no different from what they were last year, if anything they keep going up. It is wrong that Pen is badly hit, we have enough idols to supply," B.L. Pawar, also from the trade, said. Not everyone agreed; some pointed to market distortions caused by the heavy rains, the most revealing sign of that being Ganesha idols covered in gunny bags in many factories.

According to Vijay Vaman Wadke, the heavily moisture-laden climate of the last few weeks had lengthened the time for raw idols to dry and for paint on finished ones to set, causing delay in shipments. That temporary shortage of idols in the market coupled with news of floods in Pen would have been ideal fodder for agents to hike prices. "Our prices from here have moved up only in line with general inflation," Deodhar said. Both he and Pawar felt that the moisture problem could be avoided if factories operated to a strict schedule, with the raw idols readied by June.

Unfortunately for their ilk, the idol makers were too diverse in size — just about 25 from Pen's 500 factories were truly big players - and commitment levels, to show cohesion in anything, be it strategy or opinion. Even the trade association having 200 members, was a victim of this mutual competition with organised procurement of raw materials only picking up and almost no consolidated face presented to the buying agents.

Deodhar knew this and was seeking a suitable NGO to make an industry of the 500-odd competing faces that is today Pen's overgrown Ganesha studio. But, closer at hand was the festival and that unspoken worry (the idol makers never admit it) of how it would be, given now reports of disease in a Mumbai recuperating from floods. "The state's emotional attachment to Ganapathy is very strong. Besides, He is the one who removes obstacles," Deodhar mused.

In his dimly lit factory stacked with wet Ganesha idols, Shinde's quiet determination reflected that faith.

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