{"id":3322,"date":"2016-07-17T11:38:02","date_gmt":"2016-07-17T06:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3322"},"modified":"2016-07-17T11:38:02","modified_gmt":"2016-07-17T06:08:02","slug":"when-ganpati-came-without-abs-and-260-crore-insurance-cover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=3322","title":{"rendered":"When Ganpati Came Without Abs and \u20b9260 Crore Insurance Cover"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

M<\/span><\/p>aharashtrians are a spartan community for most of the year \u2013 our festivals are austere, humble affairs: All we need to celebrate <\/span>Gudi Padwa<\/span><\/a> is a stick and a pot. On <\/span>Makar Sankranti<\/span><\/a>, we distribute ladoos made of sesame seeds and jaggery, proving that even our festive sweets are simpler than a Punjabi lassi and healthy enough to find a place in any woke <\/span>organic <\/span><\/a>caf\u00e9. Frankly, we don\u2019t want the \u201cshowshaa\u201d. <\/span>\n\nBut there comes a time every year when we lose our usual Zen, don\u2019t-give-a-damn outlook to the beats of dhol-tasha. That time is <\/span>Ganesh Chaturthi<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>\n\nGanpati brings out a different side of our community. It\u2019s the only time our <\/span>\u201cughich kashala\u201d<\/span><\/a> attitude takes a backseat. We actually smile. We leave our <\/span>stinginess<\/span><\/a> behind, and serve modaks by the fistful. We drop our laziness, put a pause on our cribbing; we actually appreciate the efforts of others. Try getting the ageing Marathi mama to do that on <\/span>Christmas<\/span><\/a> and it\u2019ll probably be met with, \u201cHi jagaa aahe ka jhad lavaychi? (Is this a place to put a tree?)\u201d<\/span>\n\nOne reason I suspect we feel so passionately about Ganesh Chaturthi is that though it is a festival for everyone, we believe it belongs to us Maharashtrians \u2013 unlike Holi, the annual <\/span>grope fest<\/span><\/a> that <\/span>Bollywood<\/span><\/a> has championed, or <\/span>Diwali<\/span><\/a>, which belongs to advertising. I often wonder why this is the only Marathi festival that everyone has taken to. Much like Christmas or New Years \u2014 which used to be the sole preserve of <\/span>Bandra<\/span><\/a> and some corners of Orlem in Malad and Amboli in Andheri \u2014 Ganpati is now celebrated from Bhendi Bazaar to Borivali with just as much gusto.<\/span>\n\nFor 10 days every year, Bappa and his devotees take over the city. Unfortunately, today, the one way to announce your arrival in the festival circuit is to send young boys on the streets on <\/span>bikes<\/span><\/a>, riding triple seat without helmets, licences, and preferably cat-calling. Those not riding are dancing. The other way is a public procession, that turns a five-minute drive into a 45-minute crawl. What a beautiful tribute to the fact that Ganesha is a remover of obstacles.<\/span>\n

Ganesha\u2019s story of being created out of mud, also provides some food for thought, especially now that Plaster of Paris idols pollute the sea every year.<\/blockquote>\nWhen I look around at the melee it has become, the Ganesh festival is probably the biggest example of something well-intentioned turning into a disaster. Lokmanya Tilak once changed the festival from a private celebration to a grand public event to bridge the gap between <\/span>Brahmins<\/span><\/a> and non-Brahmins. This attempt to unify has turned into an ear-splitting ruckus. What started as a social movement has turned into political one-upmanship and misplaced pride. Now every suburb has a Raja \u2013 Andheri cha Raja, Kurla cha Raja \u2013 completely missing the point that if everyone is a king, by implication, nobody is. <\/span>\n\nAnd the size of every idol is a reflection of the local corporator\u2019s ego, with rich pandals boasting of insurance covers running into <\/span>crores<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>\n\nToday, every gully of Mumbai is encroached upon by a pandal. There are pandals on service roads, under the flyover, some even in the middle of a main road, catapulting the city into complete chaos. Again ironic, considering Ganesha is the God of Wisdom. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\n\nThere\u2019s plenty to learn from Bappa. It\u2019s an old legend that in his big belly, Ganesha digests all the good and bad, and is all-forgiving, a lesson for Mumbaikars who often don\u2019t let go of grudges. Ganesha\u2019s story of being created out of mud, also provides some food for thought, especially now that Plaster of Paris idols pollute the sea every year. The <\/span>visarjan<\/span><\/a> itself is a lesson in detachment \u2013 no matter how much you love something, you need to learn to let go, something we all can learn today in an age of a cornucopia of everyday addictions. But who has time for any deep thought or any thought at all when you have to drink and dance to \u201cChikni Chameli\u201d all the way to Chowpatty.<\/span>\n\nGanesh Chaturthi, a beloved festival of us Maharashtrians, today is celebrated with as much enthusiasm in Gujarati, <\/span>Marwari<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Sindhi<\/span><\/a>, and Punjabi homes. It\u2019s only fair \u2014 all traditions need an update and morph into newer variants. But somewhere, as Ganesh puja became a trend, the sanctity and simplicity of it is lost. The no-fuss decor of marigold flowers and mango leaves, the simple home-cooked ukadiche modak as prasad, and the traditional aratis have turned into folklore. \u00a0<\/span>\n\nToday Ganpati comes with abs, riding a motorcycle. But I long for the Bappa of my childhood: With a belly, an undir mama (mouse) by his side. \u00a0<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ganesh festival started as a well-intentioned social movement, but has now turned into a game of political one-upmanship and misplaced pride. Now every suburb has a Raja with a hefty insurance cover and the size of every idol is a reflection of the corporator\u2019s ego.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":3323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3452],"tags":[6442,6443,2113,6438,6444,79,80],"class_list":["post-3322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-bappa","tag-chaturthi","tag-culture","tag-ganesh","tag-ganpati","tag-maharashtra","tag-mumbai"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Ganpati Came Without Abs and \u20b9260 Crore Insurance Cover<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Ganesh festival started as a well-intentioned social movement, but has now turned into a game of political one-upmanship and misplaced pride. 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