I was thinking what to answer. Entire picture of Ganesh festival, glimpses in my mind. I like Ganpati since my childhood. I used to go with my grandfather for various functions associated with Ganpati. As a pandit, my grandfather is a devotee. I used to sit along with him in Devghar listening to stotras, arati, devotional sanskrit. Those are the growing days of my life. I was a small kid.
Every year before ganesh festival, the preparations were about to start from Shravan month itself. It used to start with complete cleaning of house. I used to go to Kumbhar along with my dad or grandfather to book Ganesh Idol. My grandmother starts food preparations for Ganesha. It usually consists of Panchkhadya (search on google to know more), shevkhand, Modak, Karanji and many other sweets.
The aroma of roasting dryfruits in ghee is still thrills mind and adds fuel to tongue. The aroma of house was identity of grand start of festival.
My grandfather used to clean devghar. He used to rearrange the devghar to give proper place for Lord Idol. My uncles, aunty, entire families used to come to hometown to celebrate ganpati. This is the only time for kids to have great fun. Get together with celebrations. My cousins, me and my all friends used to go for Arati at each others houses. After eating Prasadam @ each house, there is no more space for home food. Prasadam was the most influencing factor for us to celebrate. Our parents was aware of this fact and everytime there are different varities. I really like the taste of Chirmura, Peanuts mixed with Pedha and coconut. The mixture becomes a totally different taste.
My hometown is the princely state. Raja of Kurundwad along with his entire royal family used to visit hometown for the festival. There is free entry to everyone @ Rajwada during Ganesh Festival time. There are traditions of Rajwada to celebrate festival in a great way.
As I grow up, we started a small group called as BalGopal Ganeshotsav Mandal. We were in the age group of 8 to 12. We used to collect donation from relatives, friends and parents to celebrate festival. These are the pillars of volunteering for a social cause really helps a lot in future. We kids used to make Pandal, arrangements for Ganpati. Every year we used to have a new theme. Pandal consists of material collected from each other’s home. One member used to be the manager. He used to write who has given what. One member becomes cashier. He used to track all collections and expenditures. These activities are done under guidance of parents. We gain lot of practical knowledge from these activities. This is very good experience of Project Management. This is the foundation for social awareness at student age. We used to celebrate with all dignity and devotion.
After this I went to Engineering College. In the first year itself, I got an opportunity to work in Puja Committee in Ganesh Festival. This became as a trend to get in touch with all different staff of the college. Everyone used to remember me as Guruji. That helped me a lot when I used to interact with different departments. After the first year, till the time I was in college, I was the permanent member of Puja Committee. I am really thankful to Prof. Kanitkar who gave the chance to work in this. I gained a lot with the devotion. These are the moment which cherishes life.
Even after engineering, I started to work in Pune. But during Ganpati time, every year I used to be @ home to celebrate with zest. From Ganesh Pratisthapana to immersion, the joy, the eagerness and fun continues. You forget your tensions, worries, financial and social status.
I am at UK this year. I know that my parents, my grandfather, my family members are missing me. Off course I am also missing them.
Some times you can’t express your thoughts. I could not speak the answer which was in my mind. I just said “Yes dad, I am also missing you. But don’t worry, I will be going to local temple and celebrate.”
I concluded call with gloomy eyes saying “ Ganpati Bappa Morya!!!!!!!!!”
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