Ganpati Celebrations...

At last, the festive season has started. I feel like I've been waiting since eternity for this. Janamashtmi and Ganesh Chaturthi are already over.. Ramazan is in progress, and then Durga Puja, Dussehra and Diwali will arrive to lighten up our spirits.

I simply love the way in which all these festivals are celebrated across the length and breadth of country. There is an air of joy around...streets and shops are decorated...there is a stride in everyone's steps and life looks much more colourful (and yesss, it is the "Sale season" in malls too. Great time for shopping indeed!!!)

In India, a number of festivals are region-centric. For example, Baisakhi in Punjab, Bihu in Assam, Chhat Pooja in Bihar and Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtara and AP. There are no grand scale celebrations for Ganesh Chaturthi in the part of country from where I come and frankly speaking, I didn't knew much about this festival. I've seen these celebrations in TV only. But being in Hyderabad nowadays, I can enjoy this festival too.

This year, Ganpati idols were brought to various pandals on Sep 3rd, Ganesh Chaturthi. I could see good number of people thronging the pandals ..particularly at the time of pooja. I was quite surprised to see the number of people who brought Ganpati idols into their premises for the festival. I thought that such large scale celebrations for Ganesh Pooja can happen only in Maharashtra but pleasantly, I was wrong. Infact, I came to know later on that Hyderabad has 2nd largest number of Ganpati idols after Mumbai . Later on, I also came to know that Hyderabad has the tallest Ganpati statue in the country. This statue was 47 feet tall. But unfortunately, I couldn't visit that particular pandal. 'twas in Khairatabad. Nevertheless, I'll get another opportunity next year :)

Lot of poojas happen at pandals during the celebrations. After the celebrations, the idols are immersed in water bodies. Hyderabad has lot of lakes viz Hussainsagar, Osmansagar, Durgam Chervu etc. Immersion starts after 5 days from Ganesh Chaturthi and all idols are immersed by end of 10th day.

There were couple of big Ganpati idols very close to my house. On the D-day, these idols were moved to large trucks so that they can be transported to lake for immersion. As expected, a large crowd moved alongside the deity. People were dancing and playing with gulal. Thats how we bade goodbye to the Ganpati, requesting HIM to come early next year.