YOUR SAY

My Favourite Ganesha

We compiled a piece in our September-1 2018 issue for the start of the 10-day Hindu festival dedicated to the elephant-headed god Ganesh. In this compilation, readers wrote in about their favourite depiction of Ganesh.

Harshad Pandharipande wrote: God truly works in mysterious ways. The day after I wrote my piece entitled Brown Ganesh, I spoke to my mother in India over the phone. She didn’t know I had written the piece, but she asked me if I remembered “that brown Ganesh idol we had some time ago”. I said I did, and she told me she and my dad had bought a similar idol for Ganeshotsav this year! I’ve attached a pic for you to see (above). This idol has a lot of resemblance with Brown Ganesh, but it is special for another reason. It has some tulsi (holy basil) seeds embedded in it and it also comes with a clay pot. For the immersion of the idol, one simply has to pour water over the idol. Made of clay, it disintegrates quickly and the seeds turn into a plant over time. It truly represents the circle of life, just like I had said about Brown Ganesh in my little piece. I would like to think Brown Ganesh has somehow found his way back into our lives. Welcome back, Bappa!

Manoj Menon wrote: I come from Hyderabad where the Ganesh festival is celebrated with great pomp and enthusiasm. Every year the artists get creative with their idols. During this 10-day festival a favourite activity is visiting all the small and large installations across town and checking out the idols. There was competition between the associations about making up the best installation. As an entertainer, I got the opportunity during this time to perform with my local band at different venues. My all-time favourite Ganesh idol was one with a mobile phone. It was when the mobile was rst introduced, and one of the artists decided to get a bit creative with that!

Ganesh was holding a Motorola phone, deep in conversation with somebody. I would love to visit India sometime during Ganesh festival and bring back loads of Ganesh idol snaps. Maybe some day. Happy Ganesh Chaturthi.