The artist completed the idol in 100 hours.
As Ganesh Chaturthi is being celebrated across the nation, a shop in Pune has a different Ganpati idol made of paani puris. Keeping up with eco-friendly theme, this idol is made up of around 10,000 puris and bamboo sticks.
The owner of, 'Ganesh Bhel' was struck with the idea of making a different, yet, unique Ganpati idol, after he saw one made up of biscuits.
"Since our business is of chaat, I came up with this idea. In 2011, we had a Ganpati made of all the 'bhel' material. We thought of making it with paani puris this time," the owner Ramesh Gudmewar said.
Artist Prashant Salunkhe who designed the idol, said, "I made it from 10,000 puris; it took me almost 100 hours of work to build this. To prevent it from turning bad, I have used a hardener on the puris. All the materials used in this are eco-friendly."
He further spoke about the concept behind the idol, "The concept of this idol is basically shown as the idol of Ganesha itself is distributing the 'Bhel' to people and his mouse is helping him in this. And, the sun behind the idol symbolises energy, as the owners would need the energy to maintain the shop."
The 10-day Hindu festival, which is dedicated to the Lord of new beginnings, is marked with the installation of the deity's idol at home and at elaborate pandals.