Yesterday, was the day when most of Mumbai was out saying bye bye to [tag]Ganpati[/tag]. The little home Ganpati’s had their joyous send offs. 
Accompanied by band baja, and scores of bad dancers, the Ganpati’s wove their way through the streets of Mumbai to the sea, where they will be immersed. 
Families, devotees, and just fun loving citizens turned up to have fun, mauj and masti.. on a day that has come to taken on carnival like proportions. 
And what is amazing about this festival, more than any other religious festival ….. is the tenderness and absolute love with which people observe it. IT has gone beyond rituals and rites…. and into something where ‘God’ has become a personal friend, child, ….someone for whom people have affection and fondness, not fear and compulsion. 
A word of praise for the [tag]Mumbai Traffic Police [/tag] …. once again the men in Khaki, kept the traffic unjammed, ensured that no one got stuck…. and all in all the good humour and cheer was maintained. Yesterday, I was in the area between Khar & Juhu – attending a baithak ….. it took me all of 40 minutes…. that is despite seeing 52 large Ganpati’s going for immersion. Pudcha Varshi… Laukar Ya…. you are already being missed
A PoV
Harini Calamur's Writings
lovely lovely pics… I agree – the love and emotion behind this festival is quite amazing – people actually feel sad when Ganpati leaves their home. I have a crib (read it on my blog) about these toxic colors but then that is another story!
its so similar to the durga puja we have in calcutta
the toxic colours are surely but slowly changing — and surprisingly kids are leading the change. visarjan methods too are changing. i only hope that they change completely before they kill all the fish and poison the environment 🙁
I love the ‘sarvajanik’ feeling about this festival … it is a festival of the people…
hi sohini
it has been said before… i really do want to catch a durga puja in calcutta …part of my things to do b4 i die stuff 🙂
as a kid in school i wud be brought o tears on the 5th day of ganpati cos thats the day we did our home&building Ganpati’s visarjan. the next few days wud be really depressing and the place where i wud have made all the decorations would feel like a big empty vacuum. i wud make the decorations 15 days in advance some times 🙂
this time I have ganpati and the only “decoration” is a new york skyline poster 😉