Ganesha Chathurthi in India

We celebrated Ganesh Chathurthi in its entirety for the first time after several years. Now we realize, what we have been missing all these days in US. I went for a walk early in the morning just to get a hang of the festival. You can hear the devotional songs played at temples from 1/2 km away. Temples were decorated with flowers, artificial paper hangings and lamps. Temples were testing their operational efficiency by serving devotees non-stop since 6 am. There were new-born shops on the road-side selling Ganesh idols, flowers, garlands, fruits etc., You can see all kinds of Ganesh idols being sold - customized to each economic class (ranging from small to huge ones, plain to colored ones, simple to decorated ones). Mountains & mountains of clay was getting converted into Ganesh idols. Our folks' creativity doesn't end there. There were wonderful handmade small umbrellas made for God. The folks who were selling things at the road side and the folks who were buying them looked pious.

All TV channels were broadcasting movies of leading STARs. If any of the Ganesha celebrations do not excite you, the TV programs would definitely will. Of course, you have to be patient enough to watch the soaps.

At home, the ladies were busy with cleaning the 'pooja' room and preparing delicious food items to offer to Lord Ganesha. The God doesn't eat those food, but it is a feast for us :) I had full-fledged meals for lunch served on banyan leaf in a traditional way. There were lots of dishes prepared at home. Just tasting each of them filled my stomach. Listing the dishes here would water your mouth - so, I would defer that :)

It was indeed a memorable day. I'm looking forward to the Saraswathi Pooja & Diwali festivals - which are celebrated in a grand way in India.

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