Ganeshotsav 2026: From Lab Puja to 600-Person Visarjan; Ganeshotsav at a Ghaziabad Medical College
Reported by Radhika Sharma
Ghaziabad, 15th September 2026: Ganeshotsav is synonymous with Maharashtra, but its spirit is quietly crossing state lines. From Durga Puja celebrations in Maharashtra to Ganesh Chaturthi pandals in Delhi NCR, culture is seeping through boundaries. One such story is unfolding at Rama Medical College in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
Dr Dipak Sukadev Patil, a third-year Radiology resident at the college, traces his roots to Jalgaon and Pune. When he moved to Ghaziabad, he noticed that while Delhi had small Ganesh pandals scattered across the city, the Uttar Pradesh side offered almost nothing. “People were really confused about the logistics and traditions of the festival,” he says.
In 2024, Dr Patil began celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi and Visarjan inside his radiology lab, with barely an audience. It was a quiet, personal act of faith in unfamiliar cultural terrain. By 2025, with his colleague, Dr Hrushikesh pawar, the celebration only grew. Curiosity drew in students and staff from other departments. Colleagues started joining for the aarti.
What began as a one-person initiative has now grown into an organised campus celebration under a student committee, involving 120-150 students from the college.
“The celebration has grown far beyond a simple puja. Today, it includes cultural events and band performances by students, tree plantation drives, and a bhandara at the medical college temple all through the 7 days. Our Visarjan ceremony now attracts 500-600 attendees, including students from neighbouring colleges,” says Dr Patil.
“Earlier there used to be a lot of misconceptions about Ganeshotsav,” he adds. “As people became part of it, awareness has grown and evolved.” The event has become more than a religious ritual; it’s a platform for cultural exchange, community bonding, and breaking regional stereotypes within a medical campus.
What started as a small puja in a radiology lab has quietly become one of Ghaziabad’s notable Ganeshotsav stories.
At Rama Medical College, Dr Patil’s initiative has turned a festival once viewed with curiosity into a shared campus tradition, bringing together students from different backgrounds for aarti, visarjan, and everything in between.
