India, Sept. 5 -- I n 1947, Ramkrishna Khatu started Kalasagar Arts in Mumbai, making small Ganesh idols for household celebrations. Eight decades later, the family business has grown into a prominent name in the city's Ganpati idol-making tradition. "The main motive behind it was to make the festival sarvajanik, for everyone. That was Lokmanya Tilak's vision so that people unite and they build a community," says 30-year-old Nikhil Rajan Khatu, the third generation to run the business. His father, Rajan Khatu, expanded the scale from small clay idols to creations measuring nine feet and above, with some eventually reaching 20-24 feet. Nikhil took over after his father's death in 2020. "I started during the Covid-19 with 30-35 orders of idols, and this year we have over 95 idols going to all over Maharashtra and even Surat," says Nikhil, who now works with more than 50 artists and craftsmen. The family supplies idols to several well-known mandals, including Parel Cha Raja, Fort Cha Raja, Andheri Cha Raja and Mazgaon Cha Morya. Each idol takes around eight to 10 days to complete, with several worked on simultaneously. "We make idols based on themes but by preserving the main original look of Ganpati," says Nikhil. He says the craft is increasingly becoming a family legacy for others too. "The young generation is trying to take forward their family's legacy, with many new youngsters also starting out in it. It is becoming a community of its own."...