Mumbaicha Assal Raja!

'Mumbai conquers fear and rain for Ganpati' said the TOI Headline.. 'Fear Factor fails to dampen Mumbai's spirits' another said.. It seemed like Mumbai was running on the power of faith!

Indeed it was a day of expressing faith..

Faith in God, faith in the system, and faith in the ultimate victory of good over evil.. after all it was just yesterday that Delhi was rocked by 6 powerful blasts killing 24 and injuring 97 innocents!

Mumbai had been warned - it was a sunday and the day of Ganpati Visarjan where lakhs of people gather on the beaches - the opportunities were just right for terrorists to strike! But Mumbai kept its faith in Ganpati and soldiered on. Bracing against the heavy rains and hoping against hope that nothing would happen in the city today, people ventured out of their homes to bid adieu to their beloved Ganpati.

 

Anant Chaturdashi is the last day of the Hindu festival of Ganeshotsav. The festival actually started on the 3rd of this month which was the Ganesh Chaturthi. According to beliefs, Ganpati was born on this day and on Chaturthi, people welcome the Lord into their homes and hearts while the immersion of idols takes place on 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th or 11th day.

The immersion is a way of saying goodbye to the Lord who descends down on earth from Ganesh Lok to partake in the festivities. We invoke Him and He willingly comes and stays with us but when the time for his return comes, He returns to His abode. Earlier, the idols used to be carried in palanquins but now Ganesha is taken in beautifully decorated trucks and floats. The smaller ones are taken in hand carts or are placed on the backseats of cars.

Large processions of devotees accompanied with live bands and drum beats sing and dance, sprinkling Gulal and amidst fireworks proceed with Him to the water front. I particularly remember the Mahalakshmi temple float from my earlier days in Mumbai and the way me and my friends from Nair hostel used to rush to join the parade and immerse ourselves in that awesome trance music!! Traffic is thick with large 'floats' packed with dancing men and women and the huge Plaster of Paris idols depicting Ganesh in a hundred poses..

This is marked by the ritual of immersion which is not without its share of tears! As I was walking on the beach watching different people bidding their farewells to their beloved god, I saw a lady from a nearby jhopdi crying when she let go of the Ganpati idol her famliy had brought for visarjan.. it was almost as if she was saying her goodbyes to a cherished family member..

“Ganapati Bappa Morya, Pudhchya Varshi Laukarya” (O Lord Ganesh, return quickly the following year) chanting this, the followers bid Him farewell. Lord Ganesh returns to His abode taking away all the unhappiness, obstacles and troubles of His devotees, promising to return again the next year and He sure did relieve us of a tense day. This ten day festival can be best understood only by experiencing it first hand.. the sights, sounds, and sheer madness of the final day of Ganesh Chathurthi is too difficult to capture through pictures or describe through words..

 

 

 

One can see the spirit of Mumbai come alive in this grandest of all festivals! 

There are people volunteering with the police working to prevent any disasters from happening, there were boy scouts lining the roads at Versova maintaining the traffic.. people had put stalls outside their societies to serve water and 'vada-pav' to devotees thronging the beach.. at Byculla, the procession of Lalbagcha Raja was greeted with a huge floral garland presented by the Muslim community there who distribute sweets every year to the Hindus in the procession..

I saw a Bihari family bring their small Ganesha sitting in the lap of his father Shiva as a child in the lap of his own father looked on.. there was a Punjabi society and a Sikh family with Ganeshas of their own.. it felt good to see so much harmony, love and devotion all around.. it truly was a beautiful experience and an example of Mumbai's resilience and determination to fight against all efforts to polarise it in the name of religion, region, caste and language! 

Move-over ye politicians with vested interests, Mumbai is tougher than u think and more united than you want to accept.. and for all Mumbaikars, Ganpati Bappa is and will always remain the Assal Raja of Mumbai :)

Ganpati Bappa Morya Pudhcya Varshi Lavkarya!