Talking about Sri Ganesh

Perin and I (by birth Zorastrian and Catholic respectively) are not Hindus, and have no tradition of Ganesh belief, yet strangely we were fascinated by the form of Ganesh more than 40 years ago. I cannot forget when Perin created her first clay Ganesh at Bhulabhai Memorial Institute with only two hands, (not the mythological four hands) till an artist friend corrected her.

An image closest to the Ganesh  in my memory that I found on the  net.
Courtesy - MyScrawls.com

My first memory of Ganesh comes back to me, when I was only ten or twelve years old in Kerala where very few people celebrate the Ganesh festival like in Maharashtra and there is no public celebration as such. However, it is strange how I came across Ganesh at that time. In Kerala, the Government hospitals and other offices have people from other states, especially from Mangalore. My sister (Ally) who was two years older and me used to go and play with the children of the district doctor  - Dr. Kamat from Mangalore, who lived next door. He had a son and daughter – Navin and Shashi. They were called ‘Konkanis’ in Kerala, being from Konkan and speaking Konkani. One of the days when we went to play at their home – our friends were in festive clothes and the whole house was full of festivities and gaiety. The highlight of the day was, when they brought out a small white Ganesh on a colourful ‘patla’ decorated with flowers and other decorations, singing and shouting, slogans in praise of Ganesh.

One of the family members carried the patla with the idol (not more than three inches tall) to the family well adjoining their house, and the others followed in a procession. I looked closely at the idol – something I was seeing for the first time – it was made out of edible white rice flour dough (rice atta) created in a rough artistic rendition. I now wonder if it was made from the same material that they make modaks.

The climax of the immersion – Everybody had gathered around, the regular aluminium bucket used to draw water was brought up on its rope – the idol of Sri Ganesh on a leaf was placed in the empty bucket, flowers, kumkum and other things were put around it, admist the shouting of slogans and the bucket was lowered. We all stood and eagerly watched till the bucket immersed in the water and the Ganesh idol disappeared into the drinking water.

What a beautiful way of the Ganesh immersion – I can’t think of any better way. Truly eco-friendly!