It’s that time of the year when the season of celebrations and festivities mark their onset in India. The country is at its secular peak where individuals from every walk of life come together and celebrate each festival with great enthusiasm and love in the presence of their family and friends. Visiting family or spending quality time with them during these days of joy and celebration is something every Indian craves for and Deepshikha Nagpal who plays Mahamaya in &TV’s Main Bhi Ardhangini is no exception. An ardent devotee of Lord Ganesh, the actress has been consistently celebrating the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi year after year in Mumbai with her family and friends. Owing to her shoot schedules in Jaipur, for the first time in 16 years, the actress will be away from home. However, Deepshikha did not let this dampen her festive mood and found a way around to celebrating the festival and balancing the ongoing shoot.

To keep the spirit of the festival ebullient, she decided to get a Ganpati on the sets in Jaipur and celebrated the biggest annual festival with the cast and crew of the show who are more of an extended family to her. While the actress surely missed the vibrancy and flamboyance of this festival back in Mumbai, her team made sure she doesn’t miss out on the extravagant feeling. Dancing their way through the night despite a rigorous and tiresome shoot schedule, the cast and crew brought home a Ganpati idol a night before the main festival. Thereafter, every custom and ritual were followed, starting from the ‘sthapna’ of the Ganesh idol to preparing an arrangement for an ecofriendly visarjan on the set. Each member of this show sought blessings from Lord Ganesh and had a jaunty time with each other keeping alive the spirit of festivities amidst all sorts of engagements and prior commitments.

Elated at celebrating the festival closest to her heart Deepshikha shared, “This is the first time in 16 years that I’m not in Mumbai during Ganesh Chaturthi. I never could afford to miss it and no matter how much work I have on my plate, I always take out time during the 5 days long grandeur and its literally a feeling that I cannot put to words. At first, it disheartened me, knowing that I would be shooting in Jaipur during these festive days and couldn’t wrap my head around not celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi. But then, I decided why not create the same festive environment here, at my new home! Each one of us were missing the festive celebrations back at our homes and the beauty that Mumbai is especially during these few days. Thus, I took the onus to recreate the cheerfulness of the extravagant festival for the people I call, my family. I decided on getting a Ganpati idol on set for however short while that may be, and the festival was celebrated in the exact same manner I used to do back at home. Of course, I dearly missed my kids and my extended family, but the Main Bhi Ardhangini team and my dearest co-actors made sure in every way to make me feel at home as well. Considering the idol was created out of clay, we had a complete eco-friendly visarjan in a small tub and culminated the festival that brought joys and smiles to our face. This was definitely a celebration worth cherishing.”