The Ganesha comes home - India celebrates Ganesh Chaturthi

Frenzied drum beats as towering Ganeshas are paraded in autos ,crowds beating the rains and shopping for their puja paraphernalia , chaos wearing the cloak of a celebration - this is Ganesh Chaturthi , according to me the most frenzied festival . 

And this is just the beginning as the loud pandals, the processions and the immersions are yet to happen. Today however Bangaloreans forgot the slush and the rains and flooded the market, looking for their Gowri and Ganesha.I was in Malleswaram, where the action happens . A  newly constructed building was rented to house the ganeshas that had arrived from Bombay and they landed in hundreds , some of them as tall as 8-10 feet. As mayhem set in, I walked down the market, where the finishing touches were given to some clay ganeshas . 

 

I love festivals in general, as there is so much of energy and colour around. But with all due reverence given to Gods , I am not very excited with the chaos this festival begins. At home in Madras, we used to buy a small clay Ganesha and once we finish with the festivities , the Ganesha is left under a tree and slowly the clay blends with the environment. 

But many others immerse their  Ganeshas - some in buckets and wells in their houses, while many in the seas and lakes around . unfortunately unmindful of the damage they bring to their own habitat.