Me and my Bappa!

Happy Ganesha Utsav 🎉!

Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival which is celebrated widely throughout India in many different ways! As for me, prior to lockdown, Ganesh Chaturthi was only till the extent where I would go down in my society where Ganesha would be placed, do aartis, eat the yummy prasad and most importantly… participate in various Competitions held for prizes! Those 10 days would be filled with fun, especially when we all friends (along with elders) went in a big truck to pick up Lord Ganesha’s idol on the first day! Excluding the main focus: Lord Ganesha, I paid attention to everything else and barely knew who the Lord of the people- Ganesha was?!

However, this year, there was a totally different experience I felt! This lockdown has made me more inclined towards bhajans and shlokas relating to our culture’s gods and goddesses. On top of that, this Ganesh Chaturthi, we kept the Bhuvanpati: Lord of Heaven at our home for the first time in my life…! + This time we didn’t choose him, but he chose us, in the way he was an unexpected guest at our house!

I could finally co relate to all the mythological stories and bhajans I had known about Lord Ganesha! A light was lit in me when I understood the real meaning of celebrating ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’!

As we took this responsibility for the first time, it was a huge task to keep everything perfect for the Ganadhyakshya: The lord of the lords himself! The Lord was blindfolded (a ritual according to traditions) so he could be grandly welcomed on the 1st day! A day before we stayed up till late night and made the Sthanam of Ganesha, and tried our best to make it as his Sukh-Sthanam! On his special day, we offered Durva, fruits, flowers, coconuts and many more, along with understanding their importance on why they are offered, which we had just been blindly following for the previous years!

The Morning and Evening aartis were just pure bliss! Giving our salutations and pranams to Avaneesh: Master of the universe through bhajans, I learnt many new prayers from my mother in our mother toungue, Sindhi! It gave my sister and I an opportunity to dive deeper into the festival’s roots! From the fun and peppy bhajans from Kuldeep M Pai’s channel, to the Melodious voice of Lata Mangeshkar in the Sukha Karta Dukkha Harta aarti to the inspiring and interesting Ganesha stories in Dr. Ananda’s and Dhivya Priya akka’a Tell Me Appa series! We were in trance!!!

And no doubt, the Prasad’s (sweets) were very yummy which were offered every day to the Modakapriya: the one who relishes modaks!

My sister, Niyati, and I also made a painting as a departing gift to Durja: The invincible and just a disclaimer, painting is a thing that I never do, however this time, to please the Lord, I tried it out and believe me, for the first time, I finished a painting!

<-- My Painting

Niyati's painting -->

These 10 days have flown away so fast, that today, being the last day of Ganesha Chaturthi; Ganesha Visarjan, my bond with the Mundakarama; the abode of happiness, has a stronger intermolecular force, if I say it in a scientific way 😉

Today, 19/09/2021, its time for Ganesh Visarjan, the ritual is done to signify the birth cycle of Lord Ganesha; just as he was created from clay/Earth, his symbolic statue is as well. The idol is immersed in water so that Ganesha may return to his home after his ‘stay’ at our home where we conducted the Ganesha Chaturthi rituals.

 We, as a family will surely miss Yashvasin: The beloved and ever popular lord, who is everywhere, but from this year, he will surely reside in our hearts forever!!

Oh, The One who has large ears, Lambakarna, do fulfil this request of mine… Ganapati Bappa Morya, Pudhchya Varshi Lavkar Ya (Translation: Ganapati Bappa Morya, Come back ASAP next year!!)