While devotees are immersing Ganpati idols in the sea, a Vasai-based family is celebrating the gift of this immersion in their home.

Nearly 50 years ago, the patriarch of the Pilankar family, late Sitaram Madhusudan Pilankar, found a Ganpati idol resting on the seabed while bathing at Dadar Chowpatty. This was just a few days after the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. Instead of leaving it there, Sitaram, who was a pujari, brought it back home.