Ganesha in Mumbai

It's a really blue and very sunny (paradox? nah! its just Bombay!) Tuesday morning and Bombay is a couple of days away from biding adieu to its favourite mythological mascot- the elephant headed Ganesha. For someone whose spiritual equation reads as '80% atheist + 20% believer= 100% confused', I must say I kinda like what Mr. G's homecoming and then the going away stands for! Besides, the fact that I have been likened to him ever since I was 3 years old helps :D Over the years, I have seen the festival go from hard-core divinity to following downright disco culture...'Well, as long as there is faith!', some say. As long as it's a party, I say!!! Yes, the festival is as commercialised as it can get...yes, the noise pollution sucks...and most definitely- yes, the traffic snarls at the time make me want to walk all the way home from work (approx distance 20 kms) so I can be on time to watch 'Two and A Half Men'. But, I can bet my next meal on the fact that no other god, god-man or any such can elicit the fervour that Daddy G does. Diwali might come close with the son et lumiere in the skies every winter...However, nothing beats the Ganesha mandaps that can give Nitin Desai a run for his money. Creative, kitschy and crazy- prayers have never been such fun :)


Having said all that, here are some experiences that make Ganeshotsav- THE festival for me...

• Sitting at the King's Circle bus-stop as a 4-year old and gawking at the processions taking the Ganesha idols to Shivaji Park for the immersion. Accompanied by my LKG classmates, it was a pseudo-picnic complete with Thumps Up in Pet bottles, potato chips and sheera handed over by the super-sweet NCC volunteers helping to control the crowds. The piece de resistance, after seeing which I would scamper back home, was the gorgeous RK Studio Ganesha!
• Like all good GSB's (Gowd Saraswat Brahmins- a community from South India, for the uninitiated) my folks have year after year insisted that I undertake a pilgrimage to the two Ganesha mandaps that the community puts up in Wadala and King's Circle. The former is within a non-descript temple and the latter at a sports ground. The scale of celebration in both cases-BIGGER THE BETTER! The Ganesha in Wadala can give Jay-Z and his ilk an inferiority complex in the bling department- loaded with gold and precious stones offered by staunch devotees, I contemplated wearing my shades for this year's rendezvous. The sports-ground Ganesha mandap is where the food is! Aloo tikis, heavenly masala dosas and to yummmmy (vegetarian) Manglorean meals...I sin every time I visit!

Warring with my friends on how many modaks (a sweet that Mr. G's ride- the ubiquitous rat- loves!) from the legendary Siddhivinayak temple, made my quota!!!

• Wondering what wrong I have done to be subjected to the never-ever-ever-ever-ending queue while waiting to catch a glimpse of HRH Lalbaugcha Raja (the big daddy of all the Ganesha idols placed in the city during the festival. Check out the throngs in the picture to know what I am saying!!!) My friends and I tried to act all nice and devout...but couldn't manage to pull it off and ended up playing dumb charades on the road. I am sure that the Muslim couple that stood in line with us (yes!!! surprised???) must have been embarassed and how!
  
• Looking over my back for hench-men and hit-men at the Chota Rajan Ganesha mandap at Tilak Nagar...I think I will not say any more :D (PS: Chota Rajan=semi Al Capone of Bombay. What is he doing organizing an elaborate Ganesha tableau??? God knows!)
• Sitting in a cab with my friends Z and Gujju-ben at Worli Sea Face and pretend dancing to the song 'Bhootni ke' from the movie Singh is Kingg blaring out of loudspeakers from a passing Ganesha procession. Now, please note that Z is Arab- so to try and explain to her that this was actually a part of an event with religious connotations was supremely difficult. We also wondered if we heard the lyrics right- think Hindi profanities, to know what I mean!

...which leads me to believe that I will always look forward to this time of the year, every year! Not because I want to earn some extra brownie points with Lord God, for sure. For me Ganeshotsav is not about religion, its about culture and people and HAPPINESS...For me Ganeshotsav=Mumbai!!!