Ganeshotsav

This is the fourth Ganeshotsav that I am celebrating away from home. This year though, I am lucky enough to be able to do many things that I did in India.

As a kid, the Ganeshotsav always has had two aspects for me. The Ganapati at home, with relatives and friends coming to visit and the Sarvajanik (Community) Ganeshotsav, with the late night cultural programs and the processions. Hanging out with friends after the programs to help wrap up the stage and stack the foldable wooden chairs was a big part of the Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav or "Colony cha Ganapati", as we used to call it. The hot food that we got as a reward for our hard work was another attraction.

I love the aartis (prayers) that we sing during the Ganeshotsav. I have been hearing these aartis ever since I was born. I have come to associate the aartis with Ganeshotsav as much as I associate "Ukadiche Modak" (steamed rice dumplings with a sweet coconut interior) with the festival.

In these foreign lands, the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak is alive and doing very well. Getting people together on an occasion, which is equally social, cultural and religious. While talking to a friend he mentioned that we do this so that "Hum khud ko hi naa bhool jaaye" (we don't forget what makes us who we are). Like a fish who doesn't understand the absence of water, I never understood statements like this until recently.

What we enjoy constitutes a large part of who we are. I realized that memories of my enjoying the Ganeshotsav will fade if I don't keep them alive by celebrating it. As memories fade, a part of us that we hold very dear in our hearts becomes a ghost of its original self and we begin to lose ourselves slowly.

I celeberate the Ganeshotsav in an effort to preserve my image of myself: Ganapati Bappa Moraya !!!