Gods take to the roads

Time flies they say and now that I realize that tomorrow is the 10th day of Ganesh Chaturthy, (a Maharashtrian only festival here in India) I realize how true the adage is. As many may know the idols are installed for 1.5 , 3, 7, 10 or 15 days in the Mandals and then immersed in the sea. The Mandal in our society is a 10 day mandal. The ten days since the festival began, I have been regularly attending the Aarti's (prayers) organized at our Society's Ganesh Mandal and have visited so many Ganpati Mandals. The creative ideas that people come up with for some of these mandals is simply fantastic! But anyway, tomorrow the Ganesha Idol will be taken in a musical procession to the nearest beach and there the idol will be immersed in the water amidst chants of "गणपति बाप्पा मोरया, अगले बरस तू जल्दी आ" (Lord Ganesha, you are great! please come back quickly next year) by men who have been dancing to the music throughout the way and then everyone will head back home. This is a huge huge event here in Mumbai and people celebrate this festival with a lot of zest! One of the biggest changes this year is that the raw material that is used to make these idols is now legislated and so these idols are made of non plastic materials which dissolve quickly in sea water and do not impact the environment in a negative way and everyone is happy about this.


(Lal bagcha Raja - The most famous Mandal in Mumbai with 5-10 million visits each year)

Ganesha/Ganpati is also known as the Lord of Obstacles, (Vignaharta & Vignkarta) and funnily enough he ends up being an obstacle for traffic on the Gauri Visarjan day (the day of immersion). Most of the processions going to immerse the idols in the Sea move very slowly and this hits the traffic situation in Mumbai very very badly every year. So, it's wise to avoid going by road anywhere tomorrow. One thing to keep in mind is that only the traffic towards sea shores and beaches is choked. (while returning back, the vehicles travel at normal speeds). So, if you know around Mumbai and you don't have to go too far, you shouldn't have too much trouble. The day is a bank holiday however which helps in keeping the roads less congested. Also, it's wise for Girls to avoid walking along the roads used for these processions because the devotees of Lord Ganesha traveling on Trucks, Tempos & Lorries are known to get carried away and make lewd remarks and/or gestures to the ladies on the road as well as throw color and water on them. The police say that this will not be allowed tomorrow but we will have to wait and see. Just enjoy the day but and wish for something, they say that all your wishes come true when asked from Ganesha on this auspicious day.

Bellow are a couple of pictures of our Ganpati Mandal :-



Bellow is a picture of one of the Band Members of the Pune based band which will be playing tomorrow and bellow that is a Ganpati Procession of Eunuchs which I saw dancing gaily while taking their Ganpati Idol for immersion on the 7th day.





I wish I had captured the Eunuch procession better because they were setting the road on fire with their dance and their gaiety was simply admirable. Also, check out some other great Ganpati Decorations at the Mumbai Daily Photos Blog.