The vibrant colors of Lord Ganesha

-

The vibrant colors of Lord Ganesha


Ganesh chaturthi one of the most auspicious Hindu festivals marks the beginning of festive season among Hindus. Ganesh chaturthi is widely celebrated across the country. We worship Ganesha - the lord of wisdom and knowledge to bless us with true knowledge and enlighten our souls towards the final salvation. Just one week before the festival day, markets start filling with idols of ganesha. These idols come in varying shapes and sizes, some really huge, some small, some come with lot creativity displaying ganesha in variety of postures. The sight is truly mesmerizing, it makes the onlookers to admire and stare in awe.
I truly believe that these festivals will bring us close; we reunite with our relatives and friends, distribute sweets and take a break from our repetitive daily life. But there is a whole new aspect to festivals these days. The trend is changing, the festivals today are observed in more pompous way. I would like to account what I saw in my hometown this year. Not just people buy the idols to worship in their homes, the communities or mandals contribute and get one common idol for their locality which is generally huge in size. These idols are brought from market to their respective places in a very grand way. There are usually two vehicles, the one which carries the huge idol the other which carries the huge speakers and music system. The music is generally some remixed version of bollywood song played very loud. Actually it doesn’t stop at bollywood music, these days even songs of Akon, Enrique, Venga boys are played on unusually huge speakers. People unaware of their surroundings lose control and dance in exceeding amount of zeal. There are colors (gulal ) thrown everywhere, crackers burnt ( usually the loud soundings once ). And they travel at such a low pace that it takes them almost 5 to 6 hours to reach the place meant for idol to be kept. All this loud noise, unnecessary traffic jam, unpleasing dance makes the life of a common man a lot more irritable. I just wonder what lord ganesha himself feels juxtaposed between crazy dancers and high volume music. There are few questions that arise in my mind that I would like to ask the Lord Ganesha himself:
·         Do you enjoy the bollywood music? ( Dhink chika , aare pritam pyare …)
·         Is such high volume really necessary? Or can u use headphones?
·         Is your tolerance level really that high?
·         Isn’t that dance really unnecessary?
Well I am sure Ganesha has a right answer for everything in this world, but I just feel pomposity has reached its heights. People should celebrate and enjoy but at what cost? We should never forget the true purpose of a festival. The present world is slowly losing the true connect between god and our life. The true essence of the festival is to share happiness, get back together and pray lord almighty to bless us all and guide us all on a righteous path.
Today as I took my brothers new bike and whisked pass the traffic, I slowed down at a particular street courtesy a huge possession carrying Ganesha idol was passing through. Kids drenched in orange color were dancing in a very frenzied manner, the saffron flag was held high, music from a popular bollywood movie was being played, orange color filled the air around, some senior folks were clearing the way for a smooth passage, some grownups were burning crackers seeing which ladies young and old tried getting back inside their homes. Among all this; in the centre sat Ganesha’s idol magnificent, profound and graceful. My eyes closed for a second, I prayed – “teach the mankind the value of silence, let this world be more peaceful"

~Surya
In Devotion

Comments

  1. Mick16 January 2013 at 22:30

    I dont know why this has not recieved any comments yet. It is very real, what you feel. But it is necessary to understand mob psychology to understand why people behave the way they do. To them we are bland and disrespectful and our devotions are quite shallow.

    But I guess its true when people say - 'To his, his own'.

    I will give you this though, they scare the women folk more than you expressed here and that definitely needs to change, and we can do with better music. The roads are completely destroyed after a procession like that

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A mist covered destiny

-
Image
A mist-covered destiny ~ A speech by Satish R Inamdar Sixty-ninth Independence Day is here; the tricolors are in full bloom, a sudden rush of patriotism seems to arise in the heart of every common Indian. I am certainly not against this new feeling that sweeps over us for one day like a cyclone that raises alarm of impending destruction but changes its course just in time to avoid it all. Because, for all certainty I know 16 th august, the very next day will be just like other 364 days of the year and every memory and feeling on the day before it would vanish in a puff of smoke as we get busy in our livelihood. This year, the Independence Day happens to be on a weekend and I feel for the masses, who have been denied of an opportunity for a national holiday. Before we begin, lets do a reality check: “Tiranga” or “Tricolors” as we usually refer to our national flag has actually four colors not three. Everyone seems to ignore the navy blue wheel in the center of it. It is...
Read more

The Gambler's Night

-
Image
The dictionary defines gambler as a person who is willing to take the risk in hope of a desired result. A risk-taker is a gambler. A gambler doesn't necessarily meet success every time. Loss is always expected; the undesired result. It was sometime during the month of May, summer vacations were on but Sainik school had called back its pupils for early onset of classes. The campus was empty except for the final year batch. The city of Bijapur bathed in the intense heat of blazing sun. The air near the surface of earth was so hot that it often resulted in mirages on the black velvety asphalt road. The days were hot; the nights brought relief with occasional rains and cool breeze. It was not an ordinary night. It was raining hard and fast and it made a rhythmic sound as it splashed on the window panes. Mike and Saty were in no mood to study, they were sitting near the window and discussing about the smallest route that they could take in this rain to reach Reshma’...
Read more

THE CITY

-
The City The feelings of pleasure and lust Places devoid of dust The city and its nights Always filled with sparkling lights Extravaganza is the theme here always Clubs populated by lesbians and gays People have lost the sense of shame Letting dignity fall, for few days of fame The life here changes like trends in fashion It’s like music played without passion Blindly following an unknown leader Reactionless being nothing more than a reader Money and fame are the ultimate powers Beauty here is brought by artificial flowers   The mock of nature makes this place stink To lower levels humanity sinks You should know when people smile Behind it, the concealed intents are vile The flowers and the gifts that they send Shouldn’t make you to treat them as your friend Even with shining lights this place seems dark Life seems a twisted tale even though it’s just stark The exuberance and the aura feel hollow In this faint light, which...
Read more