God of all things

(bdnews24.com, September 4, 2011)

August 31 was Ganesh Chaturti in India, the day when the Lord Ganesha was born. He is the universally beloved Elephant God, the child with the head of a baby elephant, the adult with the head of a fully grown tusker. Mythology has a lot of explanations for the man-animal form of this deity, but one of my favourites is a well known story, told me with a little modernising in style and language. It may not have been conventionally and politically correctly presented, but it stuck and made more sense than the way the scriptures recorded it.

This is how my version went: Shiva and Parvati were married and happily so. One day, Shiva was out hunting, while Parvati decided she needed some me-time and decided to take a bath. But since all her companions were busy with their chores, she had no one to guard the bathroom door, which did not lock properly. So she had a good scrub and used the dead skin she rubbed off herself to fashion a small boy, whom she posted outside the door while she soaked a bit in the tub. But she had not told her rather possessive husband about what she had done, so when he came back from the hunt and decided to tell his wife all about it, he was startled to find that he could not enter the bathroom. There was a small boy standing outside who would not let him go in, saying that he had orders to do so. The argument raged for a while and then Shiva, tired, sweaty and fed up, pulled out his sword and cut off the boy’s head.

That was only the beginning. When Parvati heard the uproar outside she quickly rinsed off, got dressed and stepped out of the bathroom, only to find that the child she had created from her own body, her child, as it were, was lying there dead, decapitated, and that by her own husband! There were tears and curses and ultimatums and finally Shiva promised to restore the child to life. Unfortunately, during all this drama, a large bird had picked up the child’s head and flown off with it. Parvati stormed off to her friends, leaving her husband to sort out the whole issue. Shiva, annoyed and rather desperate to find a solution and mollify his wife, sent his men in every direction to find the first baby they could. He, too, went looking. The first baby he found was an elephant, young, lost and hungry. So he cut off its head, took it back to where the child’s body was lying and attached the two. A mantra was said, some gestures were made and, lo! A new baby was created! This one had the body of a human child and the head of an elephant, but as soon as Parvati saw it, she took it as her own son. And Ganesha was born.

In India, Ganesha is considered to be the destroyer of all evil, the remover of all obstacles, the protector of all life. He is prayed to before the start of anything good and in my home state of Maharashtra and my native South India, He is especially revered, with good food and hymns. They bring Him into the city on His birthday from hundreds of miles away where he is made with high-quality clay, plaster of Paris, reverence and prayers, on trucks, bullock carts and tempos, and install him with great love in elaborately decorated pandals or pavilions that often mirror the state of the nation and people’s sentiments.

This year, Anna Hazare and his fight against corruption will be a popular theme, with cricket, Salman Khan and potholes being favourite subjects. By using these as part of the Ganpati (which is another name for Him) celebrations, the aspects of everyday life that matter to everyman are reflected, mulled over, debated and finally laughed about. Occasionally, there is even a solution, very often the local communities getting together to use funds collected during the ten-day puja (period of worship) to help sort out things.

But what is extra special about this time of year is the genuine harmony that wraps around the average Mumbaikar – if I knew more about the rest of the country, I would probably include that too! There are fewer fights for a seat on the overcrowded trains, one less argument with that supermarket checkout boy, a smile for the lady who chugs along in her new Honda in the fast lane, even the maid who comes in long after she is supposed to and holds up your day.

There will be little, if any, communal battles, and women in burkhas and men in white kurtas with skull caps will stand in line to visit the Elephant God, along with their Hindu friends and neighbours. Sweets and crunchies are exchanged along with hugs, while fervent pleas, ardent prayers and heartfelt thanks echo through the streets. It is a time for celebration, a time to speak to Lord Ganesha, a time to be at peace. It is the Ganpati festival and all should be well with our world.