Implosion everyday

For all the positivism surrounding the festivals of India, there is some unfathomable negative hysteria too when it comes to certain festivals among them. Primary in that is Ganesh Chaturthi. Suketu Mehta in his epic Maximum City describes the maddening crowds that line up the Mumbai streets when the Ganesha idol immersion processions are held. He describes the communal tensions that seep through and over these processions when they pass through sensitive areas of the city. There is a deep underlying unrest that is brewing inside these so called ‘celebrations’.

Ganesh Chaturthi festival is celebrated across the country with various pandals erected with Ganesha idols. Each locality will form groups and will have a pandal in that locality. People flock to these pandals to catch a glimpse of the idols and pray to the Elephant God. But I have found this to be a very nauseous affair from childhood. Always wonder how the clay idol, erected in the nearest plot of the locality with Bollywood music blaring through the speakers, can be seen as a place where God is supposed to reside. The idea of divinity just does not fit in there. Most of these pandals play Hindi film music except during the Aarti. That in itself is a spoiler for me. Is this an occasion to play DJ to the locality? Devotional music is not the criteria for divinity, but then its far better an option than blaring “Munni” songs !!! The ambience is an integral part of the concentration that is built up while we pray.

The processions are marked by drunk men dancing an ugly dance around the idol. What is worse is the equally joyful participation of young boys whose age ranges from 5-14 years. These boys also emulate their elders who are doing the ugly gyrations and in turn make ugly frowns and display even more uglier expressions akin to some item girl number. The music is of bad quality, loud and utterly disturbing. It disturbs each and every area’s peace while it snakes it way to the designated immersion lake. Not even a thought is spared by those Hindu fanatics, for the patients lying in the hospitals lining the streets. Even yesterday I found a huge procession standing in front of the Hosmat Hospital gate and playing loud noisy songs. Is it an act of God? This? Shameful !

The Hindu-brotherhood calls that are on show during the fund-raising for the festival pandal, is very similar to the politicians who come asking for votes during elections. The very humble neighbor suddenly espouses the Hindu propaganda, the ‘we-have-to-preserve-indian-culture’ jingoism and various others pseudo causes. It amazes me how people suddenly change into a different personality and lose all logic and sense of civility while taking part in this group activity. It being a group phenomenon is the only reason that the devil inside of each men, justifies each act of violence and incivility.

The motives can be various, behind this phenomenon of erecting pandals during the festival. Some say it’s a way of generating easy money for the organizers. Some say it’s a way of bringing together the community or the locality. Some say it’s a way of breaking the monotony of our daily grind and involving in some charity activity. All can be true. But please do not expect me to believe that this is a spiritual activity. To me it is not. There is no devotion in this.

Devotion is in the eyes of the lady who goes to the market and searches for her Ganesha idol, brings it home with care, places it in her house’s puja room and lovingly decorates the idol with flowers, vermillion and other things used in hindu ceremonies. Devotion is in the hearts of the householders who, for those few days, wake up early and finish their morning ablutions, gather in the puja room with the family members to offer prayers and offerings to the lord. Devotion is in the laughter and goodwill that pervades through the house those few days. Devotion is in the simple yet tasty food that is prepared for the lord and the family and the neighbors. Devotion is in the visitors who come to pray to the idol and indulge in community chatter extolling the virtues of the festival. Devotion is in the slow care with which the idol is removed from the house and taken in the house-vehicle to the nearest lake for immersion.

Devotion is in the quiet that returns to the house soon after the immersion ceremony when the members of the family sit and reflect on the divinity that surrounded their humble abode for those few days and Devotion is in the moist eyes of the lady when she looks at the Puja room and misses her cute little elephant god !