Ganesh Chathurthi

Vishakapatnam

Khairatabad

Happy Ganesh Chathurthi. The festival is now celebrated almost all over India now. I remember in 1989-90 when in Agra and newly married we had to scour  the entire city of Agra to find a Ganesha idol for installing at our home .When young while still in Hyderabad,  at home we all assembled in the Drawing room on  the morning of the pooja. An evening prior I used to (Being the youngest I was assigned the task of going along with my mother to Badi chowdi market to act as the coolie for my Mother while she went shopping for all the requisites for the Pooja.) be all excited in preparing the pandaal for the Pooja. It seemed quite an intricate affair and the time for sleep used to be delayed by an hour to complete all the preparations. The next morning we all used to be woken up with the sun. My mother would scrub my hair with Sapindus or soap berries.(commonly called reetha in hindi).The juice of the soap berries mixed with water used to taste not unlike beer - probably it is why beer used to set off nostalgia whenever we used to drink it. Like I said we assembled in the hall with our eyes still smarting from the natural shampoo and start the pooja. To add to our woes was the smoke from the sacred fire lit to perform the rituals. Just when hunger was at its worst and one had given up all hope of any sort of sustenance, food used to be served. The food was really good - and more important- it was home cooked.

 By this time the relatives and friends trickled in to partake in the festivities. Latest by about 1'0' clock all loose ends would have been tied up, the debris of the feast cleared after the ladies of the house had finished - they always used to eat after the men. A sensible method as one could eat in peace. Should be followed even now... The evening was devoted in visiting others residences and and propitiating Lord Ganesha by holding ones ears and begging God for forgiveness for all perceived acts of sin. Since there was no TV it was also a good opportunity  to socialize. Almost everyone knew everyone else. Indigestion at the end of the day was norm..No Tv no unnecessary news ....

 By about the third day huge processions from all over the city started for immersing the idols in Hussain sagar. Happy drunk people dancing to the tune of the beats and shouting on the top of their voices formed part of the procession. Directors of movies along with top choreographers kept a sharp eye on the processions to learn new steps to introduce in their movies. Women in their right mind of course kept off the streets. Once in a while these processions also resulted in religious riots. But that was all a part of the game...
Of late the Festival has become more pretentious. Nowadays it is all about politics and competition and tremendous amount of money is spent on the idols and the processions. It is now about "Mine is Bigger than yours"....At home all has changed. We now employ a priest or the you tube for the method of conducting the Ganesha Pooja  .I leave you with a few photos of Ganesha chathurthi being celebrated around the city