Apart from Nehwal, Olympian wrestler Harishchandra Birajdar and noted actor Nilu Phule will also be presented with the Pune Festival award during the inauguration ceremony in the presence of Ashok Chavan, state minister for industry and culture. The inaugural ceremony, to be held at the Ganesh Kala Krida Manch, promises to be a spectacular evening with danseuse Yogini Gandhi and singer Devaki Pandit performing 'Ganesh Parampara,' a unique presentation on journey of the Ganesh festival from the time of Shivaji to the present day.

This would be followed by another dance event, Colours of India, choreographed by Nikita Moghe,and performed by Sharvari Jemenis, Sonali Kulkarni, Aditi Bhagwat, Pushkar Jog, Subodh Bhave, Manasi Pilankar among others. While Bollywood star Malaika Arrora Khan is expected to lend the glamour quotient, the evening will also see a performance by a troupe called 'Jai Hind.' "The programmes will be a unique confluence of dance and music. I am thankful to the citizens of Pune for their appreciation and participation in the festival to make it a success."

Dancer and former Bollywood actress Hema Malini, a regular feature at the Pune Festival,will perform a ballet,Rukmini Parinay, this year. In the past, Malini has performed 14 different ballet as well as the Ganesh Vandana at the Pune Festival. Taalchitra, another fusion of dance and music will be presented by musicians and dancers,including Rahul Chaurasia (flute), Ranjit Barot (percussion ), Shaunaq Abhisheki (vocal), Pandit Vijay Ghate (tabla), Srodhar Parthasarthi (mridangam) and Atul Raninga (key board).

Editor's Note: We understand your frustration, but the response to the Pune Festival 2004 has been so overwhelming that we have not been able to accomodate all who wanted to attend. The passes, except for a small number reserved for visiting dignitaries, donors, press, and foreign guests are available on a first-come-first-serve basis.

For more details please visit www.punefestival.com The Contact addresses for obtaining the passes are given here Pune Festival 2004: Contact Us. Best wishes and hope you can catch some of the programs tonight. You can get the complete schedule here Pune Festival 2004: Complete Schedule of Events

The Pune festival appears to me to be for the elite and by the elite. For some other strata organising Ganesh Mandals is an opportunity but for the major 'middle strata' of Pune have no opportunity to partake in the festivaties.

Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak - the inspiration for the Pune Festival.

Lokmanya Tilak was witness in 1892 where he saw the grand scale on which the Ganesh festival was celebrated in Gwalior and the enthusiastic participation of people therein. This alone inspired him to make the Ganesh festival a public event in Maharashtra. He saw an urgent need to reshape the Indian society based on our own heritage and philosophy. He severely criticised the blind imitation of western ways and said that it amounted to spiritual and moral bankruptcy.

Tilak wished to bring about social change for political reasons too. He was convinced that social change was the key to political awareness. The country was under a foreign rule. It was necessary to arouse the masses to oppose the tyrannical British Rule. It was necessary to stir the masses and mobilise public opinion for national ends. To achieve the desired result it was necessary to awaken the masses and what else would be fit than the already popular Ganesh festival?

Love and admiration for freedom fighters like Mr. Bal Gangadhar Tilak resulted in a prompt response when he called to observe Community festival of Lord Ganesh. Thus, the Ganesh festival at Keshav Naik Chawls began with the initiation of such festivals in Maharashtra in the year 1893 in a rather humble manner. 1893 saw the beginning of Ganesh festival as a public and popular event with Shri Bhau Rangari, Shri Khajgiwale, and Shri Ghotwadekar in Pune and residents of Keshavji Naik Chawl in Mumbai acting as pioneers. In 1894 the festival spread to other places throughout Maharashtra. Year after year, the number kept increasing. His writings in Kesari and Maharatta and his public speeches had great influence in making the festival a truly public and participative event.

Initially the Ganesh festival at KNC was rather an informal affair with a few families participating in the celebration. However, as the community festivals became more popular, more members joined in and gradually the festival took a more formal shape. Today it is one of India's biggest festival's and whole of Maharashtra, including Pune, comes alive with the 10 day celebrations.

Film Superstar Aishwarya Eaiwill inaugurate the Pune Festival 2004. Luminaries like Late Shri Shankar Dayal Sharma, Shri Amitabh Bachchan, Shri Dilip Kumar, Shri PC Alexander, Shri KR Narayan, Smt. Hema Malini, Shri Manohar Joshi, & Shri RK Hegde have graced the Pune Festival with their presence.

The inauguration ceremony of the Pune Festival 2004 will be done at the hands of Film Superstar Aishwarya Rai.

The inauguration ceremoney will be held at 4:30 PM on September 24, 2004 (Friday) at the Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch.

The Pune Festival, a grand celebration of Indian Art & Culture, is slated for September 18 - 27, 2004.

Also on the anvil are 15-20 more kalash (containers) to the 40 already present along the banks. These containers, each of which can store 300-400 kg of nirmalya (floral offerings), helps avoid river pollution. The additional kalash will come up in Karve Road, Deccan Gymkhana and Pulachi Wadi. These floral offerings will be converted into vermi compost in pits in the civic gardens.

He has also requested people not to immerse idols in rivers, but make use of deserted quarries on the city’s fringes, which are now lakes. He has set up collection points for idols to be transported to these quarries. ‘‘Last year, we collected about 45,000 idols from Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli and other places. Since the PMC did a good job in making immersion tanks, Pune’s problem was solved,’’ Dabholkar said. After last year’s success with immersion tanks, the PMC will construct 15-20 new tanks to the 60 already constructed last year. The new tanks will come up in Kothrud and Deccan Gymkhana. For this year’s festivities, Dabholkar believes that clay idols will help. ‘‘People should buy a clay idol and immerse it in a bucket of water at home and use the water for plants. Better still buy a photograph of Ganesh and do away with the immersion,’’ he said. Others like Centre of Environment Education officer in-charge Sanskriti Menon are distributing clay idols and urging people to use specified tanks for immersion.

However, the eco-friendly drive seems to have found an adversary in the idols which are made of Plaster of Paris that is hard to dissolve in water. This has prompted founder of Anti-Superstition Eradication Committee Narendra Dabholkar to launch a campaign for clay idols. To begin with, he has started a signature drive of prominent personalities in the state, to appeal to people to buy clay idols.

• In the notice, issued recently, the civic administration has directed Ganesh mandals not to erect pandals obstructing traffic on public roads. The Bombay high court (HC) has stipulated the size of the pandals. As per the HC norms, if the road width is 25 feet, then the maximum size of the pandal should be 10 feet, keeping the other 15 feet open for traffic movement. "The HC has directed that on a 50-foot-wide road, the maximum permissible size of the pandal is 20 feet, while in case of 70-foot roads, the maximum size is 30 feet," the PMC has stated in the notice.
• The HC has also directed that a pandal should not block entry to a house or a shop.
• In addition, the mandals will have to obtain an NOC (no objection certificate) from the police and permission from the PMC for erecting the pandals. The mandals are exempt from paying a deposit/fee to the PMC for erecting pandals on municipal roads. Hence, the mandals cannot say that permission was not sought because of shortage of funds.