Gearing up

By next Thursday, there would be festive atmosphere in many parts of India.

Maharashtra, Karnataka and a few other states celebrate the Ganesha festival where people bring home the idol of Ganesha and worship it for anywhere between 1 and a half days to 11 days. There are lot of sweets which are prepared at home and then friends, relatives come over for the celebration. There is a lot of positivity in the atmosphere and I just love this season.

From the time I moved to Bangalore, I see a different picture of celebrations here. They might not seem as grand as the ones in Maharashtra, but the fervor is no less. Everybody is charged up, people are busy cleaning, decorating their houses, children have holidays and they get new clothes. People have so many ideas for decorating the pandal for the Ganesha to sit. It ranges from mere Rs. 100-200 to Lakhs of rupees. Off late, people have addressed social issues in the decorations for the Ganesha festival and when people throng to visit that Ganesha, they also get the message and it creates awareness among them.

This year, we were supposed to travel to Pune for the festival. Pune is a hub for these type of celebrations. Major roads get blocked during the 10 days and there are so many different kinds of Ganeshas to see in Pune, that you get tired at the end of it. But this year, again, our trip got cancelled and we decided to bring the lord of wisdom to our new abode. Who knows, this must be the Lord's demand itself that he be installed in our new house. I am looking forward to the next week for welcoming my favorite God home and I am also going to invite all my near and dear ones for the same.

Ganpati Bappa morya!!!!!!!!!!