Photo Travelogue :
Disclaimer : I'm not a religious person, but I have been observing the festival being celebrated in Bombay - in a grand scale- for decades.
Here's the ganpati festival till visarjan through my eyes...
GANESH CHATURTHI...
ganpati idols in shops, ready to be taken to homes and sarvajanik ( public ) pandals...It can be cheap or very expensive. It is brought
( to homes/pandals ) covered in a cloth, and unveiled only on the day of sthapana/pranpratistha with prayers and arti; it is
then not moved
( as the god is supposed to have come and resided in it ) till the visarjan day which could be the next day itself, the 3rd, 5th or the 11th day. The last day is usually reserved for the bigger idols.
PANDAL HOPPING...
a ganpati idol in a public pandal...
( there's a smaller ganpati placed in front and all pujas and rituals are done with it )
THE LAST DAY OF VISARJAN...
The noise was deafening from a distance and as I approached, I could see the maddening crowd too. I walked nearer and was soon merged into it. The sea breeze was blowing as usual, but the atmosphere was quite different on this day that entirely changed the characteristics of this posh-urban locality. The main shops on the roads had closed early, mostly to avoid any mischief. The policemen were on duty, as these processions were a high-risk from security P.O.V.
crowd at the various roads leading to girgaum chowpatty ( bombay/mumbai )There was a sea of people everywhere. They came in cars, on top of trucks, and in pull-carts too; women, children et al whole family, with the elephant-faced idols of all sizes with them. The music blared, as it was not just one playing, but everyone had their own orchestra and loudspeakers along with them in their entourage. The cacophony of those sound, the people, the lights, the idols and the miscellaneous vendors too that had jumped in, made the whole atmosphere euphoric and energized! Even though I was not part of the procession, I could feel myself as one of the crowd; totally sucked in, with my eyes literally drawn into the frenzy as though hypnotized. People, with colours smeared in their faces ( though it wasn’t holi time ), as they danced to the dhol ( drum) beats in a trance of sorts, occasionally throwing flower-petals towards the idols they carried along and grains of rice on the crowds, some even sprinkling out the colours too into the air - the sight capturing the essence of the festivities to its fullest.
Though a non-believer of sorts, I was spell-bounded by the sheer beauty and majesticity of some idols and the hard work that perhaps went into making them. It is something that happens only in India ~ that, skilled-artisans make these idols, sell it; people buy it, decorate it, worship it, have fun, make merry and at the end of it ~ dump it in the sea, asking it to come back the next year. I was obviously witnessing this last part. All these never made much sense to me, but I could hardly challenge what has been followed for generations.
ganpati visarjan at chowpattyThroughout the evening the processions continued non-stop and carried on long after the sun had vanished in the western horizon with the night taking over. But, there was no sign of the festivities ending anytime soon. Was it really night already, I looked at my watch. With floodlights everywhere in the famous Visarjan venue of Marine Lines Chowpatty in Bombay, it was as bright as day itself. I watched intrigued, as people kept clicking pictures of the Ganpati idol, and these days with everyone having a phone-camera, they just couldn’t get enough of the elephant-god. All of them wanted more and a little more maybe for facebook and twitter updates. Some idols were quite innovative too, with them holding modern gadgets and what not, while some rode on clay-horses carrying swords; creativity had reached a different peak altogether. I was amused at all these ~ the length people went.
one last look at the idols...ganpati bappa morya, purchya varshi laukariya...
Everything moved slowly, yet everything happened fast too. People walked slow, with the vehicles moving at snail pace, yet over thousands of visarjans happened at that place, on that day. Truly incredible India!
Ganesh Chaturthi also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi or Vinayaka Chavithi is a Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Ganesha. It falls in the months of August or September of the Gregorian calendar. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha clay idols privately in homes, or publicly on elaborate pandals ( wiki )
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