Now go online to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi

Virtual Puja
Just spend a few minutes in front of your computer and perform a virtual puja on the big day. What’s more? You can do the puja for yourself or on behalf of a family member or even a friend. Most of the sites are interactive and let you perform the puja by letting you place the puja items in their respective places. As soon as you put everything in the right place, the bells start ringing, flowers start being showered and the aarti begins. Some of the sites also let you present the flowers, ring the bell, offer incense, break the coconut and do the aarti with the diya. Some others are more personalized and ask for your moon sign, birth star and gender. A priest then recites the accurate mantras. You can even download apps that let you virtually enter the doors of Mumbai’s

Siddhivinayak

temple and perform all the rituals, without the hassles of a queue.
Call home a pandit
Now, you no longer have to do umpteen rounds of your neighbourhood temples to get a suitable pandit to come to your house to perform rituals. You can just log on to one of the many innovative websites that offer one-stop solutions for pandit and puja services. Also, these websites are helpful to not only book a pandit, but also to avail puja samagri and other religious services. Be rest assured that the pandit will be punctual, because the websites allot a biker to each pandit so that they can reach the devotee’s house in time. A word of advice: book now to avoid delays.
Live Telecast
Want to watch pujas at popular temples, but are unable to actually be there? You can now watch live telecasts — both from famous Ganapathi temples such as Mumbai’s Siddhivinayak and

Lalbaugcha Raja

— and from private pujas conducted by priests. While some are for free, others will require you to shell out moolah to able to see the rituals. So, you get to be a part of the celebrations, without actually going anywhere.