This year when Bappa goes back after Chaturthi it will be different. Since I am moving to the US, I am not sure when I will be back in this madness of a city to be a part of this thing which can only be described as "junoon".
I have been living in this city for almost six years now and with each year I have become a little more attuned to its rhythm and beat. I can safely say that as "Ganpati" comes nearer, you can hear this beat begin to quicken. There is so much activity around that at times it almost threatens to swallow you up! People and cars everywhere. Roads get blocked as the pandals go up. Festival shopping starts with a bang, and the rain keeps coming down adding its own bit of fury.
And yet there is a sense of well-being that comes with this craziness. You hear the mingled sounds of various loud speakers being tested with the latest Ganpati Bappa Morya song. Everywhere there are young strappy lads of various "societies" all charged up to collect "contributions" from the residents, their contempt barely veiled when they see a hundred rupee note where they actually expected five times of that. The enthusiasm of getting Ganpati home, the simple pleasure of finding the most "dhik chak" light for your "sarvajanik mandal" and the exhausted smiles of the organizers at the end of the day, all create a cozy cocoon that comes from being among people with who you share a heritage of thousands of years and who you may fault for their lack of civic sense but never for a lack of enthusiasm.
So as Ganesh Chaturthi comes around this year I welcome it even though I dread it, knowing that I love it and there is no denying that I will miss it.
I have been living in this city for almost six years now and with each year I have become a little more attuned to its rhythm and beat. I can safely say that as "Ganpati" comes nearer, you can hear this beat begin to quicken. There is so much activity around that at times it almost threatens to swallow you up! People and cars everywhere. Roads get blocked as the pandals go up. Festival shopping starts with a bang, and the rain keeps coming down adding its own bit of fury.
And yet there is a sense of well-being that comes with this craziness. You hear the mingled sounds of various loud speakers being tested with the latest Ganpati Bappa Morya song. Everywhere there are young strappy lads of various "societies" all charged up to collect "contributions" from the residents, their contempt barely veiled when they see a hundred rupee note where they actually expected five times of that. The enthusiasm of getting Ganpati home, the simple pleasure of finding the most "dhik chak" light for your "sarvajanik mandal" and the exhausted smiles of the organizers at the end of the day, all create a cozy cocoon that comes from being among people with who you share a heritage of thousands of years and who you may fault for their lack of civic sense but never for a lack of enthusiasm.
So as Ganesh Chaturthi comes around this year I welcome it even though I dread it, knowing that I love it and there is no denying that I will miss it.
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