Bappa the brave

Nagpurs Pachpaoli police station is on alert City photographers are in ldquowait moderdquo Neighbours and friends speak in hushhush tones An artist is at work but in a space unspecified Itrsquos time for the annual Ganesh festival and the stage is set as it has always been since 1959 The Puri family of Nagpur mounts an attractive but mostly controversial Ganesh idol tableau The showcasemdasha talk of the town rather of interest to the statemdashpresents Ganeshji with accompanying lifesized idols of reallife figures that evoke the mood of the moment The choice naturally varies each year It could be former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis embracing former rival Ajit Pawar Prime Minister Modi at a G20 summit or even Rahul Gandhi touring the country afoot Not to forget ISROrsquos Chandrayaan mission which offers a rather neutral noncontroversial themeOne of their recent tableaus dared to speak against the Modi administrationrsquos duplicity over construction of Ram MandirThe idols made under the Chandrashekhar Azad Bahuuddeshiya Mandal are accompanied by slogans and banners which take on the powers that be consequences notwithstanding The Puris have been frequently jailed for their public social comment which allegedly disturbs social peace during the Ganesh festival As the festival begins this year the idols will soon be unveiled from a secret workshop spacemdasheach year a new location we are told Only the artist the Puri family some anonymous wellwishers and Bappa of course are privy to the choice of the tableau No persuasion can prompt the Puris to divulge the theme of the yearldquoWe derive immense joy from maintaining the secrecy of our annual creation It is not that we are eager to attack an individual or group but the Ganpatifestival is our chance to share our thoughts on the countryrsquos current affairs Itrsquos a tradition a practice a ritual that we look forward tordquo says 54yearold Chandrashekhar Puri son of late Gulab Maniram Puri who initiated the traditionLate Gulab Maniram Puri right who initiated the tradition of mounting a tableau during Ganeshotsav seen on stage with a Lord Ganesh idol calling for action against scamster Harshad MehtaThe Puris members of the Gosavi nomadic tribes have been in Nagpurrsquos Pachpaoli kumbharwada neighbourhood for over a century Their modest ancestral house stands as a mute witness to the passage of years unaffected by the urban makeover of Nagpur city In Chandrashekhar Purirsquos words ldquoWe have been here much before the Pachpaoli flyover We have even instituted the idol under the old bridge in the pastrdquoFor the last few years his sons Shivam and Rohan also help with the annual tableau though they have other callings The family once extremely poor has eked a living by selling vegetables and daily use items on a moving thela While the thela is still a reality the third generation Puris have taken to odd jobs which keep them afloatChandrashekhar 54 and Manisha doing Ganpati puja at their homeOver the yearsmdashirrespective of how much the day temperatures rise and which political outfit rules the municipal body or how strict the postpandemic protocolsmdashthe Puris remain an enigma during the GaneshotsavEach year only interrupted by the COVID pandemic in 2020 they surprise their audience with idols which question the status quo In fact they push the envelope by presenting the Ganpati idol in a human avatarmdashbe it Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bharatmata a pagdiwearing farmer a masked common man even a sitting judge in black robes The ldquohumanrdquo versions of Ganpati along with the Puris often land in Pachpaoli police custody at unearthly hours The police declare the humanised idols as potential tools which annihilate social peace In fact last year the court sustained an objection to the pantshirt wearing Ganpati which not just hurt public sentiments but deviated from the popular notion of a Ganesh murti Once the senior Puri was arrested because the Ganesh idol was clothed with the Indian flagChandrashekhar seated against one of his earlier creations Reminding then prime minister Manmohan Singh about failed promises to farmersMany detractors also find the idols a bit gauche some feel the idols do not sufficiently represent reallife personalities Of course Puris are unfazed by the critique of their aestheticldquoWhether we agree with each version or not the Puris present a spectacle every year When the police arrive and the Puris are jailed the people of Nagpur and the media is further treated to another show the buildup for which is also excitingrdquo says Dr Satish Pawade senior commentator and a theatre arts educator who has followed the tableaus from Gulab Purirsquos days ldquoNeither Gulab Puri nor his son or grandsons are artists or sculptors in the technical sense But they have an eye for anomalies They have a rather forthright and consistent signature style of articulationmdashposters banners placardsmdashwhich evokes respectrdquo says PawadeEvery year the Puris start the ideation a little before the Ganpati festival season As the director executing a scenario Chandrashekhar Puri shuns his other work to witness the making of the dekhava Gulab Puri even used to give finishing strokes to the clay figures The familyrsquos HindiMarathi copywriting skills are then put to use usually amid interactions with select journos and legal experts Banners and posters are the toppings on the creationmdashelements that raise the antenna of the Nagpur PoliceldquoI enjoy this season the most We put aside household chores and invest our energies in voicing the most dominant themes of the year The process is lovely We draw inspiration from the great Lokmanya Tilak who used the Ganesh festival for public awarenessrdquo says Chandrashekhar who calls himself politicallyneutral His father took pride in the title ldquoprakhar samajwadirdquo and Chandrashekhar retains his connection with the Janata Dal whatever is left of it leadership in Nagpur But the family is not politically aligned in the popular sense of the termThe Puris have courageously commented on varied wrongdoers perpetrators and forces that shape contemporary Indiamdashscamsters like Harshad Mehta perpetrators of crimes against women like Congress youth leader Sushil Sharma political supremos who dictate rules to state chief ministers celebrities like Sanjay Dutt who seek special treatment BJP leaders who committed to the construction of an Ayodhya temple not to forget Maharashtrarsquos rulers who pay lip service to the welfare of malnourished children in Melghat The issue of separate Vidarbha statehood also reflects in the tableaus especially naming local leaders who did not do their bit to realise the dream In 1994 the year after Gulab Purirsquos death the tableau featured Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai serial blasts Way back in 1982 Gulab Puri erected the idol resembling former CM Babasaheb Bhosale who was then charged with nepotism and other misconduct In order to avoid the police lockup during the festival the Puris are usually armed with a lawyer who argues their case of freedom of expression before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court The family filed a writ petition in 2005 seeking permission which was applicable up to 2018 to install Ganesh and other idols along with the paraphernaliaIn an interim order the court upheld the familyrsquos right to do socialpolitical messaging as per the Article 19 of the Constitution of India Later when the court order was dismissed the family again moved court and succeeded in getting another favourable ruling in 2021In the words of Ajit Adtani the counsel who has represented the Puris in the past the tableaus are not intended to hurt any ideology They however provide a moment of reflection an appeal to correct the blatant wrongs in the system Chandrashekhar Puri is a daily wage earner He is not blessed with mentionable formal education He doesnrsquot speak English He does not post views on social media platforms He doesnrsquot have friends in high places He utilises his personal savings for the annual featureBut he has one thing for suremdashtremendous reserves of energy to integrate political messages with the Ganpati pooja season It is his unwritten annual contractwith BappaSumedha RaikarMhatre is a culture columnist in search of the subtext You can reach her at sumedharaikarmiddaycom