A group of Indian scientists celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi in a rather eco-friendly manner at Antarctica’s Maitri research station. Any guesses how they must have done it?Snow, of course!In a video shared on Instagram, Dr Anirudh Dhar, a doctor stationed at Maitri, documented the celebrations. Researchers from the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) handcrafted the Lord Ganesha idol entirely out of snow and marked the festival with traditional rituals.The video captured team members sculpting the idol before gathering for an aarti and puja. The scientists also offered modaks as prasad during the celebrations.What drew particular attention was the idol’s visarjan. Rather than using a conventional immersion site, the researchers placed the snow-made Ganesha idol into a bucket of water indoors. The idol quickly melted and tuned into water.The team carefully placed the idol in a bucket of water indoors for immersion. anirudhdhar/Instagram“Taking ‘eco-friendly immersion’ to a whole new extreme 15,000 km away from home — our handmade snow Bappa is about as sustainable as it can get. Ganpati Bappa Morya!” Anirudh wrote in the caption of the post.He also joked in the comments, “Despite spending 3 years next to Lalbaug cha Raja at Parel, I had to travel 15,000 kms to attend my first Visarjan.”Netizens react:“Coolest Bappa ever,” reacted a user. Another commented, “This is magnificent omg.”“Super adorable visarjan, needs true devotion for such pooja in harsh conditions,” remarked a third.Someone commented, “Ufff this is amazing.”


