We celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi today. Thankfully it was on a weekend so we could make the kozhakattais at leisure and not rush the festivities as we had to for Krishna Janmashtami. After making the kozhakattais we did a small puja and then devoured all the kozhakattais before we could even take proper photos of it :)
Our temple was inaugurating their fundraising campaign for an expansion project. Since we knew we'll get delayed due to the puja at home we made our contribution on the previous day itself. We made our way to the temple slowly at around 4:00 pm. The temple was flooded with devotees. What really stood out in the sea of devotees was a wave of red color. Everywhere we turned we spotted atleast one Nepali. All of them had turned up in their wedding attire. Suddenly I realized that they were observing Teej (something similar to Karva Chauth). I have never seen so much red ever in my life before.
I couldn't help but feel nostalgic amidst all this chaos and rush. I was recollecting my experience in Mumbai during Visarjan. Everyone was out on the streets that evening, singing, dancing, jumping in sync to the fast beats. The air around us was electrifying. Colors were sprayed in all directions; everyone was pink by the end of the evening. Ganesh idols of all shapes and sizes were transported by the indefatigable devotees. I suddenly missed the festive spirit I experienced that evening. There was a lot of crowd in the temple but the festive atmosphere was sorely lacking.
Hopefully I will get to see another visarjan someday in Mumbai. Till then we chant GANPATI BAPPA MAURYA!!!
Our temple was inaugurating their fundraising campaign for an expansion project. Since we knew we'll get delayed due to the puja at home we made our contribution on the previous day itself. We made our way to the temple slowly at around 4:00 pm. The temple was flooded with devotees. What really stood out in the sea of devotees was a wave of red color. Everywhere we turned we spotted atleast one Nepali. All of them had turned up in their wedding attire. Suddenly I realized that they were observing Teej (something similar to Karva Chauth). I have never seen so much red ever in my life before.
I couldn't help but feel nostalgic amidst all this chaos and rush. I was recollecting my experience in Mumbai during Visarjan. Everyone was out on the streets that evening, singing, dancing, jumping in sync to the fast beats. The air around us was electrifying. Colors were sprayed in all directions; everyone was pink by the end of the evening. Ganesh idols of all shapes and sizes were transported by the indefatigable devotees. I suddenly missed the festive spirit I experienced that evening. There was a lot of crowd in the temple but the festive atmosphere was sorely lacking.
Hopefully I will get to see another visarjan someday in Mumbai. Till then we chant GANPATI BAPPA MAURYA!!!
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