This Sunday is gonna be Ganesh Chathurthi. Our Ganesh who was happily having milk abhishekaas (sometimes literally had milk) at temple has to come out to have sweat abhishekaas. Of course this suffering is very minor when compared to the immersion in the water, where he has to suffer for breath and die of asphyxiation. Ganesh Chathurthi is a day when Ganesh will be brought to streets to toil in the heat and people gulping sweets sitting at home in the name of Ganesh. Do you know something? Lord Ganesh was created, sorry born in a jiffy. The story goes like this. One day Lord Shiva was out to a war. His wife Parvati wanted to bathe. As his hubby was out of station, she had the thought of having a bodyguard and created Ganesh with the sandalwood paste. May be Britney Spears knew about Parvati earlier and wanted bodyguards for her. Parvati wanted them only when her husband was out. In case of Britney regardless of whether her husband (sorry I did not know who her hubby was when I wrote this post) was with her or not, bodyguards were there. Like her shadows they protected her from paparazzi and fans, sometimes from her past, present and future hubbies too. I think this post is turning out to be Britney’s special.
On Her Guard
Let’s turn our attention to Ganesh. So, Ganesh was created in jiffy. Another interesting story is that Lord Shiva himself did not know that he had a son called Ganesh. As Ganesh was born when he was out of station on war duty, he didn’t know that he became a father. When he returned home after battle and tried to enter into Parvati’s chamber, he was stopped by his son. Enraged by this Shiva cut off his son’s head. Please don’t ask for how long Parvati was bathing. Parvati was raged by his hubby’s foolish act and told her that he was his son Ganesh. This is the turning point of the story. Here is where SA Rajkumar does his ‘lala laa la la laaa’ in the BGM. She explained him that he was protecting her. And when Parvati was all set to destroy the whole world, Shiva ordered his commandoes to bring the head of a child that was sleeping with its head placed in the north direction. The commandoes of Shiva were too intelligent than their boss. They brought the head of an elephant that was sleeping with its head placed in the north and Parvati gave elephant-headed Ganesh life.
On a Normal Day
Ganesh Chathurthi is considered to be Ganesh’s birthday. The person who popularised the idea of making Ganesh idols and submerging them in the sea was none other than the person who said ‘Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it’. Yeah it was Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Incidentally when I was reading about him I came to know that BGT and I shared the same birthday! And he brought about his idea to bring people from upper and lower castes together in a show of unity to the British. Earlier days Ganesh idols were made of clay and they were submerged in nearby water body. But nowadays ‘yeh dil maange more’ attitude resulted in making huge Ganesh idols of Plaster of Paris. The problem with plaster of Paris is that it takes more time to dissolve and also release toxic substances that pose a threat to sea life. It’s a common sight to see shoals of dead fish the next day on the shore. It’s only now plastics have been banned in the world’s second longest beach, the Marina, Ganesh Chathurthi only going to bring these waters tonnes of plastics and gallons of toxics.
On his birthday, waiting to swim!
