In the wake of the Ganesh Visarjan festivities, students and volunteers united early Sunday to clean Juhu Beach, collecting an impressive 207 kilograms of waste primarily linked to the immersions. This initiative not only underscored the importance of environmental stewardship post-celebration but also showcased collaboration with local NGOs. Participants described the experience as transformative, reminding them of the city’s environmental needs amid festivities like Ganesh Visarjan.
At daybreak, 36 student volunteers arrived not to celebrate, but to clean up. Over the course of the beach clean-up drive, they collected 207 kilograms of waste, much of it linked to the previous day’s immersions. The waste was segregated on-site and handed over for appropriate disposal, with the initiative focusing on reducing the impact of post-festival debris on Mumbai’s coastline and mangrove ecosystem. The clean-up was jointly conducted by students from a city college in association with local NGOs, with faculty, staff and student volunteers coming together early on a Sunday morning to tackle the debris left behind after the festivities. The initiative was spearheaded by Vidur Dhabaria, a city college faculty member who teaches Environmental Studies (EVS) and also leads a youth education non-profit organisation. For him, the exercise was an extension of what students learn beyond the classroom.
“Being from out of town, we hadn’t seen a Ganesh Visarjan up close before moving to Mumbai for college,” they say. “Waking up early to clean the same beach we’d celebrated on the night before really stayed with us — it made the city feel a little more like home, and reminded us that we’re responsible for it too, not just visitors passing through.” For two students who moved to Mumbai from outside the city, the morning carried an added significance. Bhopal resident Juhi Shahani and Piyush Agrawal from Nepal, both pursuing BBA in International Business in Mumbai, had never experienced Ganesh Visarjan up close before moving to the city for college.
“Ganesh Visarjan is a moment of great faith and celebration, but it also leaves our beaches carrying the weight of that celebration the very next morning,” he says. Second-year BBA in International Business student Simran Kaur, a Khar resident, says seeing the extent of the waste first-hand changed the way she viewed environmental responsibility. “This was my first time volunteering for a beach clean-up, and it completely changed how I look at Visarjan celebrations,” says the Vile Parle resident. “Seeing idol remains and plastic waste up close made the environmental cost very real for me. ”
“This drive is about taking responsibility for that impact; not as an afterthought, but as an extension of what we teach our students, both in the classroom and outside it. For the students, the exercise offered a lesson that went well beyond textbooks and lectures. For first-year International Business and Finance student Abhinandan Agrawal, the experience offered a different perspective on a festival he had always associated with celebration.