Ganesh-one of the most celebrated festivals in Bombay.
I remember Ganpati as a vivacious festival, 10 days of songs on loud speakers, loads of traffic, and people swarming around the idols.
Our mandir kept a huge idol every year, the slum dwellers had one at the end of my lane, so did my friend Bhavna's building,which I visited every year. My nani, who stays at Sukh Sagar had the most prominent location to watch all the large ganpatis immerse into the sea from Chowpatty beach. That road is alive, even at 4 am, and since the whole event is covered by IN tv, invariably I could see my nani,at her balcony-giving water and sweets to passerby's .
When I think of Ganpati-I cannot not think of Siddhi Vinayak, my early morning walks with Dela, from Bandra to Siddhi. Going for the aarti, to pray and then whispering into the mouse's ear.To top it all, we even walked back home, just to get the feeling-of complete contentment. The best part of Siddhi is the vibes I feel when I am there-the calm feeling completely encompasses me.
When I came to Dubai, I never thought Id celebrate Ganesh, but my batchmates managed to get a beautiful Ganesh idol! We had kept it at one of our villas-and every early morning before college and night 11 pm aarti was done. We outsourced the immersion part, because if you're caught in Dubai then the fine is dhms 5000.
I remember Ganpati as a vivacious festival, 10 days of songs on loud speakers, loads of traffic, and people swarming around the idols.
Our mandir kept a huge idol every year, the slum dwellers had one at the end of my lane, so did my friend Bhavna's building,which I visited every year. My nani, who stays at Sukh Sagar had the most prominent location to watch all the large ganpatis immerse into the sea from Chowpatty beach. That road is alive, even at 4 am, and since the whole event is covered by IN tv, invariably I could see my nani,at her balcony-giving water and sweets to passerby's .
When I think of Ganpati-I cannot not think of Siddhi Vinayak, my early morning walks with Dela, from Bandra to Siddhi. Going for the aarti, to pray and then whispering into the mouse's ear.To top it all, we even walked back home, just to get the feeling-of complete contentment. The best part of Siddhi is the vibes I feel when I am there-the calm feeling completely encompasses me.
When I came to Dubai, I never thought Id celebrate Ganesh, but my batchmates managed to get a beautiful Ganesh idol! We had kept it at one of our villas-and every early morning before college and night 11 pm aarti was done. We outsourced the immersion part, because if you're caught in Dubai then the fine is dhms 5000.
Last night was the final pooja, we sang bhajans-Jai Ganesh Deva etc and some of my friends(Dharmesh and Chinmay) recited the athrava shastra mantra. As the vibes emitted, the whole place reverberated with positivity and togetherness.
As ever,I cannot explain it-ithe feeling was beyond beautiful. It was spiritual.
As ever,I cannot explain it-ithe feeling was beyond beautiful. It was spiritual.
4 comments:
hey,
u write really well...like your stuffs and such. Happy studying in Dubai!!!
its funny... u in dubai... celebrate... ganesh... and i as... i walk the roads of mumbai.. wonder why they create sucha nuisance.. why this city has to come to halt for not so strong a reason... every few days.. for something religions.. or something.. of the sort...
anyways..
Thanks for outsourcing the job of immersion to me,Ansu, Dharmesh and Tarak. WIll be posting a blog on the experience.
Been here after a long time! But it seems I did not miss much... high time you improved your writing frequency dudette! Varna this fellow SP mate of yours is going to spam your comment box with long and boring to death comments until you write something. :))
Ah btw Ganesh festival!! Can't describe how I love the atmosphere in those 10 days! In fact being a mumbaiteite I can so much relate to what you have written! Decorating the pandals, raking in money from people in the name of 'contribution', standing in long spiralling lines to see the creativity of other ganesh 'mitra mandals' [as they are popularly known :-)] and the 5 hour walk on the immersion day! Beutiful memories eh! :) In fact I was all the more happy to see people participating with equal enthusiasm despite all the trouble they faced in the deadly rains! The spirit of Mumbai lives on!
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