The Premonition

“He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” 
― Shannon L. Alder

The festival season begins in India with Ganeshchaturti. The festive environment during Ganeshchaturti brings positive vibes in the surroundings. Lord Ganesha is a favourite among his devotees owing to his loving spirit. The first gathering was begun by Lokmanya Balgaghadhar Tilak in a bid to begin community service in India. The festival boasts a frenzied dance, and the boisterous crowd took me back to my childhood. The first Ganapati Idol was placed in the colony playground that encompassed our housing colony when I was around twelve years old. I would loiter out in the playground and  be on the roads when the festival neared. I would be an enthusiastic part of the festivities till the day the Lord’s idol was carried away for an immersion. During those days only the men were allowed to go for the immersion. I hated the thought that I could not accompany the idol. Each day I wished for more entertainment. They had the Pandal, a temporary shelter put up so that the rains would not deter our spirits.

In those days the rains were the orderly ones that visited us before the festival. Occasionally it rained during the festival, but was considered auspicious. It would stop as easily as its advent. I would begin asking my mother many days before the festival when the festival would begin. The programmes during the period were arranged by the colonial secretary and other dignitaries. We would participate wholeheartedly in the activities and love eating the offerings made to the Idol. Many a times my mother would feel uncomfortable to see her children almost living in those Pandals… She would try to call us back on some pretext or the other. I would never listen to her. I would wait for them to screen movies. A screen would be placed in the center of the ground and people would sit on both the sides. The three hour movie was the most enjoyable with friends and siblings. Sometimes we would run to bring my mother along who would trudge slowly contemplating whether  she should watch the movie or not. The movie would go on till 10.30 in the night. While returning back with friends I would always yearn for more time to spend in the company of friends. I would watch the whole movie many more times in my dreams. Those moments were lived well because we could never watch a movie more than once in a couple of months.

On growing up I developed an aloofness, I would rarely visit the place. After my marriage Mumbai was a place that took me back to my childhood through its festivities during the celebrations. My little son learnt to dance and sway to the beats  during the festival, Yet somewhere the zeal to enjoy the fervor had diminished with time. The song ‘Gananayyaka… gives me the festive feel any time I hear. A Ganapati idol is placed in our building for ten days and idolized. People pray fervently and feverishly to fulfill their dreams. They ask me why I don’t attend the Aarti or participate in the games for women and children. This year there was a fair too. Right during the midst of the festival we flew to my native place. There were offerings being made as we left the building. I peeped to bid an adieu to Lord Ganesha seated in one of the parking lots as I knew that he would be immersed when I returned back.

As the car moved I recalled the little Ganesha my mom had bought that particular year. It was small draped in a green dhoti with dazzling gold and a  golden hood. The idol was one that had surpassed all those we had earlier. In Hyderabad unlike Maharashtra, every family purchases an idol and keeps it in their home. Later they hand it over to the local Pandal where the little Ganesha is looked after and gets a grand immersion with the big common Ganesh idol, which we call  sarvajanik or all and sundry Ganesha. In Maharashtra, the Ganesha is bought and mounted on a seat. Its face is covered and all the family members and friends walk, chanting in chorus Ganapati Bappa Morya. The lord is a favourite one as people rejoice eating well and believe the Lord has the ability to stop all the hurdles in life and turn things auspicious for one and all.

The idol, my mother bought was looked after well. We prayed fervently as my mother was constantly feeling sick, but during this festival she recovered miraculously that November. When the time came to bid the idol an adieu, it was kept at home, that fateful year we refused to immerse the idol. My mother fell very ill and left us in the first week of December. My brother who was a Medico then, ran to fetch a doctor who could only pronounce her dead. He was filled with remorse as he looked at our small Pooja corner used for invoking God's blessings. As he threw the photographs and little Ganesha in wrath on the ground, we felt, was it because we did not immerse the little Ganesha.  Perhaps we had linked one event with another turning the incident into a Superstition. Superstitions ingrained in the childhood have a long term impact. It took me years to understand that God is omnipresent, misfortune and sorrows are a part of life just as  being joyful. Education expands the art of viewing  circumstances positively. It helps in comprehending the ups and downs of life and improving the situation into a meaningful one. Now we understand that my mother was blessed with just those many breaths as she had to, and had to leave us  just as everyone of us will be leaving, but life can be lived utmost with this realization.

“...I started to realize how many great things could happen by confronting the things that scare you most.” ― David Archuleta