Finally …!

Yeh, finally I am starting my own blog. As I am writing this first blog, ganpati immersion processions are making their way towards river/sea/lake in almost all parts of India. Especially in Maharashtra, Ganesh festival has got its own importance. I wanted to start this blog on the first day of this Ganesh Festival, known as “Ganesh Chaturthi”. But, this week’s work pressure, like every week, was a bit too much which stopped me from starting this blog till now.

Ganpati is known as god of wisdom, knowledge, prosperity. Ganpati word is made from two words, gana and pati. Gana means people, and pati, i.e. adhipati, means leader. So ganpati means the leader of people. He is the god of common man. Everyone loves ganpati. One of the specialties of this god is that he can be represented in just any form. And absolutely every form is very attractive. I am crazy for this god!

“Vakra Tunda Maha Kaaya, Surya Koti Samaaprabha |
Nirvighnam Kurume Deva, Saarvaa Kaaryeshu Saarvada ||“

In Indian culture, all the good work start after worshiping Ganpti. Even before we start worshiping any other god, we worship Ganpati first. He has got this special honor in Hindu culture.

Around 114 years back, in 1893, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak brought the concept of public celebrations of Ganpati festival. The inspiration behind starting such public celebrations was to bring everyone together on a common platform and use it to inspire them to contribute in the fight for freedom. That concept is still working for the current generation, with one small change, today we do not have to fight to liberate India, but to bring the awareness among our fellow citizens about social, environmental issues. The celebration last for 10 days and these 10 days are just amazing!

Like every year, this year also we installed a clay statue of our beloved deity at our place. During these 10 days, the whole atmosphere gets charged with a special charm. We all enjoyed the presence of our beloved god in our home. These days generally fly very quickly. And on the last day, we immerse the statue in water and bid adieu to our beloved god. This last day is called as “Anant Chaturdashi”. This day has got a mix feeling of emotions. We all feel very sad to say good bye to ganpati, but the big processions that accompany are organised are mind blowing.

As every year, we performed all the rituals today and had special delicacy for our god. In the evening, with heavy heart, we immersed the statue in water and that brought down the curtains on this year’s celebrations of the festival. Now we are all looking forward to the next years’ “Ganesh Chaturthi”. Like we say in marathi:

“Ganpati Bappa Mooryaa,
Pudchya Vaarshi Laavkaar Yaa”