Saturday, August 26, 2006

Away from home on such a day...

Tomorrow is one of my favorite festivals back home, and I am stuck here in S'pore. :( Its Ganesh Chaturthi. I remember when I was a kid, my dad would make me and my brother do 108 sit ups and if we completed that, we could ask for anything!!! Later we would go visit our neighbours and see wonderfully painted and decorated idols of Lord Ganesha. We had to see 108 idols. We had one neighbour who would worship almost 50 Ganesha idols! I always loved to go there, because it was just so beautiful! There were varieties of idols - gold, glass, painted, mud. And she would put up lots of lights and flowers making it even more pretty. Now when I think of those days, I loved this festival for the food and the gifts..! :P But today, I can actually appreciate the festival for what it is. It is the birthday of Lord Ganesha. A festival celebrated by almost all Hindus. He is the Lord of power and wisdom. He is the eldest son of Lord Shiva. He is the energy of Lord Shiva and so He is called the son of Shankar and Umadevi. By worshipping Lord Ganesha mothers hope to earn for their sons the sterling virtues of Ganesha.

In this festival, these idols of Lord Ganesha are worshiped for two days (in some cases 10) and then immersed in water. The immersion itself is a very special proceeding. There are processions in a number of places when huge idols are taken to lakes or tanks to be immersed. These days, in a lot of cities, it is not allowed to immerse idols in tanks or lakes as they fear that the paint on these idols and other articles immersed along with the idols would pollute the water! But still, the tradition continues.

One of these years, I will be home on this day and I will once again enjoy all the excitement and the devotion that is associated with this festival....! :)

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