Ganesh Chaturthi Celebrations- How New York Plans To Celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi
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00:00 This isn't a Ganesh temple in India.
00:06 This is Broom Street Temple located in downtown Manhattan in New York City.
00:11 Devotees have come today to begin celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi, give offerings and seek
00:15 blessings.
00:16 For some, it's their first time celebrating the festival outside India.
00:20 It's my first time in New York celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi at the Broom Street Ganesha
00:25 temple with Eddie and everyone here who is almost like my family now.
00:30 I'm super excited because it's something that I've been looking forward to experiencing
00:36 and I'm also helping them out, set up everything so I think this one's going to be really special.
00:42 It's my first time in New York because all these days I have celebrated back in India
00:46 in my house.
00:47 It gives me a grand function, like a grand puja in our house, like from morning, like
00:52 around 11 days of puja and it used to be really, really nice because we used to have different
00:59 dishes and all the families used to come together and celebrate but it's like the first time
01:03 away from home.
01:04 Such an important festival for me and for my family.
01:07 I'm from London and I just happened to be here in New York today and unable to celebrate
01:14 at home so I said let me go wherever there's Ganesha across the world so I'm here today
01:18 here in New York.
01:19 For the organizers of this temple's festivities, Ganesha Tarthi is always a great way to bring
01:24 people together.
01:25 We're super excited about Ganesha Tarthi this year.
01:27 This is our biggest one yet.
01:30 Last year we had an amazing turnout and this year we've seen the community grow like tenfold
01:36 so this is probably our biggest Ganesha Tarthi that we've had back in this place.
01:40 There's no real way to explain this apart from the fact that this is just a beautiful
01:48 space that brings people together, that fills you with amazing energy and you just leave
01:56 with a smile on your face.
01:58 Today is not the only day that people will have the chance to come together and pray.
02:02 The temple has much more planned for worshippers.
02:05 So we have week-long pujas and we actually have a few different music and dance performances
02:10 and a special sitar performance so not only is it a great way to bring the community together
02:16 and do worship but also a fun way to get people involved in the arts who have that talent
02:23 and ability to showcase them during the festival.
02:25 Despite the welcoming environment, many still miss being home in India to celebrate with
02:30 their loved ones.
02:31 I'm being a bit homesick but I think it's fine. It's a new experience.
02:35 We had to cook really good Indian food by ourselves so it's really good.
02:39 I do miss celebrating this with my parents. It's a little more grand way that we used to do it.
02:45 Of course, that I can't do here but you could say that I'm a little homesick.
02:48 Until they get to be with their families again, New York City's temples have provided people
02:52 with a safe space that honours India's culture.
02:55 The fact that even after coming here I'm finding a lot of culture regarding the Indian holidays in general
03:01 and the fact that I'm actually able to do a lot of puja over here as well
03:05 and that a lot of people are also interested in doing the same here.
03:08 For NDTV, this is Nandini Gupta reporting from New York.
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