Ganesha ...

“My Ganesha is more beautiful and he has bigger tummy than yours! “, these were the words of my four year old nice Laxmi when she came for Ganesha Chaturthi yesterday. Her comments were filled with great authority and warmth as if she is talking about her very close friend. It made me think why is that all kids feel so related only to Ganesha even though we have so many gods out there.

Even I was crazy about him as a kid, may be because Ganesha is more of a cartoon character figure than a god. He is so much fun filled with the elephant face and equipped with weird costumes like snakes and rats as his friends. These fairy tale details leave a long lasting imprint in these tender brains forever. And the other reason being most kids have grown up listening to the ever interesting heroic deeds of bal Ganesh.

Every child loves to hear/see the little elephant faced kid doing mischievous things and still escapes uncaught from the radar of elder’s not to do list. One thing why everyone likes this festival was that he was one god who felt more like a friend and secondly because of those yummy sweets prepared for him. You know it’s not a joke to raise an elephant :).

Those childhood memories still remain so fresh in me, when we used to live in a small rented place which did not have the luxury of a separate pooja room. Hence a small portion of the kitchen shelf was converted as a guest room for Ganesha during his stay.

Usually the festive fever would start almost a week before his arrival and each year we would plan his stay to at most fun with newer decorations and sweets. His three day stay would be a treat for everyone at home as if our very close relative is at home and we would be literally crying when the third day arrives where in we have say good bye to him.

As my hairs turning grey, the fear and the feeling of god in me totally changed but the very love for Ganesha still remains with the freshness as it bloomed. Even though all these gods are just an ideology and part of those brilliantly depicted epics, I bow myself to the level of creativity and passion with which these characters have been evolved over time.

I was always left with no word when I used to hear those incredible fables of lord Ganesha. He turns out to be a hero for me during my childhood days. He seemed to be so different and appealing in all means when compared to other gods.

The idea of cloning or bringing up a child in the labs artificially has been very new to the world. But you will be surprised if I tell you that Ganesha too came into existence by one of these similar means. Yup! He was given life by his mom “Paru :) alias Parvathi”, using the dust or dirt/skin from her body. Hence technically he evolved out of some cultured cells from his mom. Isn’t his birth so fascinating :) and challenging to the science at those times.

It’s proven that the technology of organ transplantation existed very long ago because the very first organ transplantation was conducted on Lord Ganesha. He still holds the world record of only person who has been transplanted with a head of a different species.

Few of my favorite fables of Ganesha were when his stomach bursts and he holds back by tying the snake as his waist belt, he also negotiates with the passing by rat to be his vehicle to reach his home and later on in the war field he breaks his one of his tusks and uses it as a weapon. All these qualities of him demonstrate the art of living and also his managerial qualities.

Anyways I had a great time yesterday with Ganesha and do check few of the photographs of his stay.