Madhu Patel
CHICAGO: Montreal (Canada) based production house “Art of Where” apologized and withdrew yoga-capris carrying images of Hindu deity Lord Ganesh after strong protest from a large number of Indian Americans led by Rajan Zed, president of Universal Society of Hinduism.
Beverly of “Art of Where”, in email to Rajan Zed said “The product featuring Ganesh that you brought to our attention was removed from our artist stores…We hope that you can accept our apology”.
Zed thanked Art of Where” for understanding the concerns of Hindu community which thought placing Lord Ganesh on such a product was insensitive.
Lord Ganesh is highly revered in Hinduism which is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.1 billion adherents Rajan pointed out that such trivialization of Hindu deities was disturbing to the Hindus world over. Hindus were for free artistic expression and speech as much as anybody else if not more.
“Art of Where” claims to create “high quality wearable garments and accessories printed with artwork combining amazing quality products, local production, and versatile fulfillment services”. The products it sells include clothing, accessories, embroidery, home decor, books and stationery, materials and claims to provide world-wide shipping. The concerned “Cosmic Ganesh Yoga” yoga-capris was priced at $55.
