SHREE AND ME

September 27, 2015

Of all the names of Lord Ganesha its SHREE that I love to address Bappa the most . And trust me this last 10 days were interesting moments of realisations that Shree made me understand as I travelled the length and breath of pune city visiting various Ganesha mandals . The whole city is in a festive mood , the preparations are well in advance right from planning the dekhava to collecting the vargani’s , there’s a lot of one to one communication within the community more than ever I feel . There’s a certain air of purity with the day beginning with Shree’s Aarti and ending with the same . There’s vibrancy in the attire people wear all around us .

The variety of Prasad is tempting every moment . It’s a festival of colours too with Shree in countless avatars n shades . Invitations invitations and invitations .. Innovative drama’s played by local artists from each part of the society . As I travelled each day after sunset to various mandals almost up to midnight I realised so many children honing their acting skills doing street plays . The dhol Tasha groups passionately unleashing their art to the world as if there’s no tomorrow . The adrenalin of the city was at a all time high . The faith people have in shree is unimaginable with lakhs visiting the shrimant dagduseth and other heritage ganpati mandals every day . The police have a hell of a tough job in maintaining sanity but for once even they become your friends by relaxing all rules with shree in town  🙂 .And before you know it’s Anant Chaturdashi ..

It’s time when Shree decides to go . After getting the whole community together , singing , dancing , celebrating he departs leaving us with various realisations and a year of contemplation before he comes back again . Well this year shree connected me more than ever to my city and made me realise the beauty in simplicity , the energy within the society and sensitivity in our community .
And I do feel like reciting my favourite lines of Shree
” Vakratunda Mahakaya
Surya Koti Sama Prabha
Nirvighnam Kuru Me Deva
Sarva Karyeshu sarvada ”
“Shree , pudchya varshi lavkar ya “