How Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated- (Recommended Reading)

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Each locality makes its own special pandal. People attribute considerable social significance to the pandals as communities compete with each other to put up a more outstanding one. Each pandal has a different priest. Amidst much fanfare and revelry, the priest installs the idol of Ganesha in the locality to the chanting of shlokas (Sanskrit holy verses). Special prasad and food (cooked without onions and garlic) are prepared to mark the first day of the puja. Aarti (a ritualistic puja with hymns) is performed twice a day - in the morning and in the evening. Most people of the community attend the evening aarti. They actually rush home from work to take part in the festivities and gather around the brightly-lit Ganesha. People offer prasad of modaks or peras (a type of sweetmeat), coconut, hibiscus or any other red flower, sheaves of grass, vermilion, turmeric powder and rice. The prasad can be bought from the little stalls or puja shops all over town. During Ganesh Chaturthi, in most parts of the country people offer prasad to the image of Ganesha in their mini temples at home. The entire family wears fresh and clean clothes and assembles in the sacrosanct area. As they sing hymns, everyone is given some flowers and rice in their hands. These are later showered on Ganesha. Sometimes a few families get together in someone's house for the aarti. Each ceremony is rounded off with people tucking in toothsome modaks, in keeping with Ganesha's style. Hindu mythology has a story to tell even about Ganesha's modaks. It is said that Ganesha loved modaks and simply could not stop himself from eating them. In fact he devoured them by the hundreds. Amused by Ganesha's obsession with modaks, once the beautiful moon made fun of the chubby God. Ganesha was so furious with the moon that he cursed him, saying that his beauty would never remain constant. Since that day, way back in time, the moon reveals itself in all its magnificence only once in 28 days. Only a few people observe a fast on this festival as, for the most part, the general feeling is that Ganesha's birthday should be an occasion for pigging out and not for fasting. The few who do keep a fast are allowed to eat various sweets like til ka ladoo (a round sweetmeat made of sesame, flour and sugar), gajak, rewari (sweets made of jaggery and nuts), along with tea and coffee. In Rajasthan, people place a garlanded idol of Ganesha smeared with vermilion, right outside their homes. If front of the image they keep a plate with some vermilion and turmeric powder so each passerby can put a pinch of the sacred powder on his forehead and feel blessed by Ganesha. The festival comes to an end on the day of Anant Chaudas. On this day, the idols of Ganesha are taken from various pandals, doorsteps, localities and puja rooms for a truly royal ride. The streets of Mumbai are packed with multitudes as each locality comes out on the streets with its Ganesha. Amidst shouts of 'Ganpati Bappa Moriya Pudhchya Varshi Lavkarya' (Marathi for - Oh Ganpati My Lord, return soon next year), a sea of humanity carries the idols to the waters of the Arabian Sea. Firecrackers announce the arrival of the procession that halts every now and then for people to get a last glimpse of their favourite God and seek his blessings, for he is the remover of all obstacles. The idols are carried into the holy waters, and face the direction of the local community centres they started their journey from, till their visarjan, or immersion. In other towns and villages, folks carry the idols to the local river or tank for the visarjan ceremony. As dusk takes charge of the skies, people return to their localities and homes, awaiting Ganesha's return the following year. Artists and sculptors start imagining how they will make an even nicer Ganesha next year. Housewives fret about making better modaks and pedas than Mrs X. The community at large thinks of superior and more elaborate pandals and processions, on there way back home and to work. In this country of almost a billion people, Ganesha plays his part. He generates work, adds meaning to their life and gives them hope.