Ganesh goes back home today. To wherever he came from. Kailash, where his mum and dad live maybe? And considering that while I write this, he is most evidently going back from Mumbai, he sure should be highly relieved.
All things God and spiritual ring back into silence. None of which you get when Ganesh comes to visit us. There are blaring loudspeakers, there are drums being beaten skinny, there are people chewing bits of banana and strewing them on the roads, dancing while throwing a particularly stubborn powdered colour on everything they can see, and shouting Ganesh related slogans.
I am not anti-celebration. Ganeshji comes to my home too. He is brought in by the men, who mostly chant Ganpati Bappa Morya. And mom and I decorate the pedestal he will sit on and prepare modaks. Aartis happen with fire and tinkling bells four times a day and most cooking is free of onion and garlic. When a day and a half are gone by, we soak our Ganeshji amidst much sentimental sadness over the going of such a cute god. He is put into a bucket of water in our house. Since our Ganesh is made of mud, he dissolves in 1/2 hour and we then drain the water near a tree.
Done. During aarti, we chant Athavashirsh and play some Ganesh bhajans on our PC. No, we do not blast the volume.
So it pisses us all off royally when we have to put up with loud processions and shouting and eve-teasing and being generally harassed. It is especially more pissing off when one of us decides to fall sick during the festival and yet another member of the family has an exam coming up.
When that happens, you wish Ganeshji would individually smack every loud, apparent-follower of his so some peace prevails. So, don't blame me if I feel thrilled that some billboard fell on a bunch of shouting devotees on a significantly clogged road that falls on the route of Visarjan. A route that has been taken off the traffic map for this particular day so an overlarge bunch of drunk and howling people can carry and drown a huge statue of Ganeshji into the sea and thereby pollute the sea further. Sewage and chemical pollution are definitely not enough, eh? Bring on the plaster of Paris.
May Ganeshji similarly liberate more menaces to the society.
3 comments:
I so wanted to write this and more about this hooliganism in the name of Ganesh. But I couldn't get down to writing it. Thanks
ha ha.. Have you quit calling it Ganu...
@P: :)
@Anish: I havent, I still call it Ganu! But imagine a name as cute as Ganu connected to a post where I am thrilled that he made the billboard fall on people. In that situation, Ganeshji gives the post a more formal feel, eh?
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