and my dear gonesh dada did a wonderful job in replicating the fervour and festivity in hyderabad, very much the same way as it happens in durga puja in kolkata....though durga puja is celebrated in a much grand way with lightings, palacial pandals, people flooding the streets.., nonetheless, the gonesh puja in hyderabad has a different charm and flavour... i am in love with the cute round gonesh's in my apartment and my surroundings...to my surprise, we had some 8 ganesh idols in the 500 meter stretch of the street leading to my house from the main road...
... and this was the first time that i actually did a gonesh pujo at my house...with a sudden decision with all approvals from the head master and mistress of my family, post lunch we started the puja preparation... very different from the traditional way of performing Lakshmi puja or Saraswati puja where we fast till the puja rituals and other proceedings are completed....Gonesh dada and us binged on motichur laddu, luchi, suji, nuts and sweets post puja....
the 10 days of Ganesh puja in hyderabad captivates me completely...after reaching home from office, i collect my camera and off i go pandal hopping and capturing all the idols i see....pandal hopping in hyderabad is like a food gathering exercise...every pandal you go for darshan hands you over a bowl of lemon rice or a coconut shell..after a day or 2 i understood that carrying a tiffin box is the smartest thing.... all that i have for tiffin those days are the left overs of lemon rice i accumulate from my pandal trips....you will also be amused seeing the diversity of sculpture the artisans tried in making different versions of the same Elephant god....i have seen a cuddly baby gonesh sitting on Durga's lap...a round fat gonesh dressed up like baby krishna, with a peacock feather on its crown and a bansuri; i was so fond of this partcular gonesh that i imagined in my mind how nice it would have been had i got a small living gonesh like this in my house ..like a kid or a pet.....another gonesh trying to tame a lion by pulling its mane...and the biggest and tallest gonesh of Hyderabad, the gonesh as tall as a 3 storied building in khairatabad....another gonesh with thickly kajal lined eyes....a gonesh dressed up like a Marwari groom, with a grand jewel embossed headwear or pagdi, richly decorated with ornaments, and henna painted hands in blessing pose....
in my eyes, gonesh is a very cute god... a round rollu mollu figure...which should be placed on ones lap and cuddled and kissed and poked and played to hearts desire....no wonder, gonesh soft toys are widely available in the market....during the 10 days of gonesh festival, my entirebuilding complex are flooded with lights and decoration...the Gonesh is accomodated in the parking lot in C block, which happens to be my block also...and being in 1st floor, i literally experience the festivity all the 10 days... the residents of our complex get together and conduct the event right from raising funds till the immersion.... celebrations are accompanied with puja, a mini cultural event performed by the kids, distribution of lemon rice, suji, payasam, chholey and puri, which takes care of our dinner...however, the immersion day is the most exciting and eventful...after a formal get together and lunch, idol is taken on a possesion, with drums, whistles, crackers, and made to take a round of the complex...the immersion process follows...this year, i missed it since i was in office..the dark building devoid of strings of mini bulbs, and the vacant seat of my gonesh pricked my heart...like all good things, my gonesh dadas trip was also over...but next year, i ll take a day off from office on the immersion day and will go with my folks till the hussain sagar lake to see off my cuty cuddly sweety god.
...by the way, if you want to see a coverage of Gonesh puja of 2010 in hyderabad as captured in my camera, Click https://picasaweb.google.com/mohor03/GaneshChaturthi2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCOTKvaCe8ruUtQE#
