Need a prayer? Just SMS Ganesh

MUMBAI: Busy Indians are jumping the temple queues during one of Bombay's biggest Hindu festivals by making their offerings through SMS.

For 51 rupees ($1.10), plus the message charge, devotees can SMS PUJA (prayer) to the BPL Mobile cellular operator to have prayers said for them at the city's most popular Ganesh temple.

BPL says more than 5,000 people have used the service - avoiding lines of thousands of people outside temples -since it was launched on Sunday at the start of the annual 10-day festival for Ganesh.

"It helps our subscribers get some sort of a pious feeling," said Krishna Angara, chief operating officer of BPL Mobile, which has almost a million customers in Bombay's Maharashtra state.

After the prayer, the temple sends the BPL customer a receipt, special offerings and a portrait of Ganesh.

© Reuters