India, Sept. 9 -- In a first for Maharashtra, Solapur city held this year's Ganesh immersion procession without a single DJ sound system or laser light, marking a major shift in how festivals are celebrated. The streets came alive, instead, with beats of lezim and dhol-tasha and chants of 'Ganpati Bappa Morya' as Solapur initiated the state's first 100% DJ-free Ganesh immersion.

The DJ-free campaign was born not out of convenience but tragedy. Earlier during the Shiv Jayanti procession in February this year, Raju Yadgirikar, 58, of Salgar Vasti requested the organisers to lower the volume for the sake of his ailing mother, 80, only to be humiliated and forced to sit beside the blaring system which left him permanently deaf. During anothe...