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TRI Continental Film Festival - Dona Paula, Goa, Sep 28 - Oct 2, 2007
http://www.moviesgoa.org/tricontinental/tricon.htm
For public viewing
Registration at The International Centre Goa Ph: +91 (832) 2452805 to 10
Online Media Partner: http://www.GOANET.org
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My immersion with Ganpati Bappa
Morya mhunnat, Morya! Morya mhunnat, Morya!
Cecil Pinto
The time is almost upon us. Local newspapers will have photos of
recently found papayas, eggplants, potatoes, cucumbers and
what-have-you, all seemingly shaped like a Ganesha. The miracle is in
how a vaguely misshapen vegetable or fruit can be construed to
resemble a delightfully complex pachydermic deity.
Isn't it amazing how all religions have common themes. For example in
the Bible, God tells Moses, "Come fourth!". Here in Goa Hindus invite
you over these days for Ganesh Chaturthi by saying "Chovtek iea!",
which is Konkani for the same thing. Of course I'm not an expert on
linguistics or religion and so could be mistaken.
Among the Hindu deities Ganesha has always fascinated me. Sure the
dark-blue, many-handed Vishnu is cool, as is the dancing Shiva
Nataraja, and for that matter are Rama and Krishna. I have never
quite ever liked Kali but am quite in awe of Goddess Durga. Saraswati
(wisdom) and Lakshmi (wealth) have always eluded me. But from all
these Lord Ganesha truly stands out as being different in many ways,
and not just because of his elephant head and pot belly.
"Among the icons of Hinduism worldwide the loving and much loved
elephant headed Ganesha, is probably the most widely known. More than
the Swastika, the Aum, the Lingam, the Bindu, the Pratik, the Namaste
or the Trishul - the one symbol that is recognized worldwide is Lord
Ganesha". Of course I just made up that quote but it does sound
profound. In fact I'm not quite sure what a Pratik is, and in fact if
it is Hindu symbol - but it does sound important.
Probably why I like Ganesha so much is because of proximity and
exposure. Unlike in the rest of India only in Goa and Maharashtra
(first popularised by Lokmanya Tilak in 1910) are Ganesh Chaturthi
celebrations on an even more massive scale than Divali. I clearly
remember as a school child how Chaturthi time was something we looked
forward to eagerly, to visit the houses of our Hindu friends and
neighbours and stuff ourselves silly with the homemade sweetmeats they
offered. After school, through college and young adulthood, I drifted
away from religion for a while, like most everyone does.
In 1992, while working for an infotech company I returned to my
favourite god. A Catholic male colleague of mine and me went to the
nearby house of a female Hindu co-worker who had insisted that we
"Come for Chovoth", which incidentally refers to the 4th day of
Bhadrava Shukla-Paksh of the Hindu calendar. We arrived at around
11.30 am expecting to be greeted with at least a chilled beer, if not
something stronger. And definitely some dry chilly chicken or similar
before the main course, which surely would be mutton biryani or
better.
We were kept conversing for nearly an hour with nothing but drinking
water being proffered. Apparently nothing could be consumed before the
'bhatjee' arrived and performed this special puja. Eventually he did
arrive, and after the puja we were served softdrinks, veg snacks and a
pure veg meal. Apparently in orthodox Hindu families non-veg food and
alcohol are not served while Lord Ganesh is in the house. Is it any
wonder then that I gave up my favourite God for many more years?
There is indeed so much that is likeable about Lord Ganesh. He is
worshipped as the Lord of Beginnings and as the Lord of Obstacles
(putting and removing), Patron of Arts and Sciences, and the god of
Intellect and Wisdom. He is honoured with affection at the start of
any ritual or ceremony and invoked as the 'Patron of Letters' at the
beginning of any writing. If my column sometimes sucks it's probably
because I didn't invoke Lord Ganesha.
The myths surrounding Ganesha are well known to every Indian child but
let me just repeat it for my non-Indian readers - all three of them.
How he got his elephant head everyone knows, but not many know Lord
Ganpati's Goa connection.
Parashurama, the sixth avatar of Vishnu, who created Goa by fighting
back the advancing ocean, is apparently also responsible for Lord
Ganesh's broken tusk - Ekdanta. One day, Parashurama, went to pay a
visit to Shiva, but along the way he was blocked by Ganesha.
Parashurama hurled himself at Ganesha with his axe and Ganesha
(knowing that this axe was given to him by Shiva) allowed himself out
of respect to be struck and lost his tusk as a result.
Another story tells of how the young Ganesha, known for his sweet
tooth and hence pot belly, overate sweets one day and was going for a
ride on his steed (a mouse) when he was thrown off his mouse-mount
which was startled by a snake. Ganesha's bloated belly burst open but
he wasted no time and using the snake as a belt repaired his stomach.
The moon god Chandradev seeing this incident laughed. Ganesha cursed
the moon saying that anyone who looked at the moon would have bad
luck. Later he softened the curse to be applicable only during
Chaturthi.
No Chaturthi is complete for me without visiting the large Ganpati
statue and background put up at the entrance to the Mapusa Municipal
Market. Every year the local merchants put up this themed background
to a massive Lord Ganesh statue, that shows some scenes from Hindu
mythology. If that doesn't interest you the fantastic lottery prizes
surely will.
A Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to everyone. Pay obeisance to Ganpati Bappa
and he will remove all obstacles from your path. And remember to keep
focused on your path and advance slowly and steadily. There is no
recipe for quick success. Don't immediately reach for the stars.
Instead reach for the moon, but don't look at it!
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The column above appeared in Gomantak Times dated 13th September 2007
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