Go digital for Ganesh Chaturthi this pandemic- Book your last minute idol, pandit, decor, modaks Online with My Omnamo

by Suman Gupta

•  Ganesha goes global to 1000 homes in US, UAE, Australia & Malaysia

• 700+ virtual pujas conducted during pandemic

• Eco-friendly idols made of Paper & Clay, Red Soil & Panchgavya

• Pledge 1 meal programme for My OmNamo’s ‘My Aaji’ Campaign

Mumbai, 19th August 2020: Pre-Covid or Post-Covid, the festive season is here again and so is the positivity that comes with it! The auspicious month of Shravan is on, Ganesha Festival is right here, and Diwali isn’t too far either. While prepping up the house for the Ganesh festival, the families might want to reach out to book a priest at a last minute or don’t want to end up navigating through overcrowded markets to buy puja essentials or still confused as to how we should fetch my perfect eco-friendly idol of Lord Ganesha. Go digital during Ganesh Chaturthi this pandemic with Mumbai based, spiritual App, My OmNamo can be a life saviour for your home Ganesha which specialises in booking your last minute Ganesh idol, pandit booking, decor, modaks online. My Omnamo also offers customised puja packages both online/offline, pandit booking services, temple darshan bookings and more. My Omnamo is available on Google Play Store for masses to download.

Talking about the venture, which is India’s own home grown & sustained spiritual mobile app which had taken Ganesha, the much-loved deity global with just a click, Makarand Patil, Founder, My OmNamo shares “The ‘My OmNamo Sampoorna Ganesha Puja Kit’ includes 68 various types of idols of Lord Ganesha, 35 different designs of paper Makhar (decoration), Pooja Samagri kit along with Brahmin. “With Thermocol ban, our Eco friendly Makhar and Decorations which are made up of recycled and natural colours will come as a respite for environment conscious families”. While the My OmNamo Sampoorna Ganesha Puja Kit’ has reached out to 1000 + families in US, UAE & Australia over the last 2 years, like every year this year is no different.  “Patrons from India as well as overseas have relied on My OmNamo, and we have so far exported 650 kits comprising of idol, puja kit and makhar, we hope we reach around 1000 homes this year as well. And, now we have puja bookings for Ganesha Sthapna puja from UK, Canada and Malaysia also for the upcoming Ganesha Festival.”

This year the focus is more on home delivery of Ganeshotsav Package. Eco friendly Ganesha idol, complete puja samagri for Ganesha sthapna including fresh flowers and durva, online/offline purohit services and hygienically made Ukadiche modak. Our basic package starts with INR 4501/- to INR 10999/-. The Ganesha idol (murti) size is available in 6” to 24” and costing of the idols vary from INR 999/- to INR 5999/- and AED 99/- to AED 599/- and ‘My OmNamo Sampoorna Ganesha Puja Kit’ varies from INR 4501/- to INR 10999/- and AED 799/- to AED 1199/- for India and UAE market respectively” he added. My OmNamo’s product Monthly Puja Kit has also picked up the demand and over 8000 to 10000 kits are sold every month. These Monthly Puja Kits are sourced from SHG women working across the country with their own small micro-enterprises dealing in halad, dhoopbatti, fulvat etc, The Puja Samagri kit includes 48 items viz. Haldi, Kumkum, Gulal, Rangoli, Kharik, Badam, Halkunda, Akrod, Gandha, Bukka, Talvati, Janvijod, Kapsachivastra, Abir, Ashwagandha, handmade Agarbatti and basic puja materials. Along with these facilities, MyOmnamo also offers Catering services through their app for saatvik food or mahaprasad along with Modaks.

While talking about the research that has gone into making of these religious puja kits and idols, he further adds, “Its 100% proven that just paper, as a material is not religious so My OmNamo has specially created eco-friendly Ganpati idols with a team of sculptors. Our idols are made up of 90% paper and 10% of shadhu (clay). This year we have also created idols made of Red Soil (Laal Mati) and Panchagavya (cowdung, cow ghee, cow urine, milk and curd)”.

About the trend of Online puja and pandit/purohit booking services this pandemic Makarand Patil, Founder, My OmNamo adds “Since the lockdown started, we saw a dip in puja bookings in the first week. We decided to tweak the business model and started focusing on online puja via Google Meets, Zoom, Whatsapp video, Skype etc.  This change yielded results and daily 2 to 3 pujas started getting booked, mainly Maha Mritunjay Japa, Chandi Paath, Ganesha puja, Satyanarayan puja, Rudra Abhishek etc. From March till July we conducted almost 700+ virtual pujas and are now getting huge enquiries for online Shravan Puja and Ganesha sthapna puja. The online puja is trending more into metro cities and tier 2 cities namely Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Indore and Jaipur. During this pandemic, we also performed several online puja’s in Australia and UAE”.

This year, as a CSR support on every idol purchased or every puja booked, 10% of amount will be pledged towards sponsoring Aaji/Ajoba’s one day meal at Swastik Foundation Old Age Home. My OmNamo shall be sharing e-certificates to the donors for supporting the ‘My Aaji’ campaign.

The start-up has grown rapidly, and successfully generating loyal customer bases in Australia, US and UAE and Malaysia. My OmNamo intends to spread it wings to other countries in the near future.