Ganpati Bappa Moraya
Ganesh Chaturthi holds a special meaning for me. Even before I developed an opinion that I am aethist, I had a fascination for Ganpati. I was a little kid sharing community life in one of Mumbai’s oldest Housing Societies- Shardashram, where bringing Ganapati in a procession every year was a community ritual more than a religious one. I enjoyed dancing in front of the procession to the sounds of Dhol and Tasha.
Lokmanya Tilal started Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in Maharashtra with the objective of gathering the community to listen to progressive ideas. As a child I wanted my mom to instal a Ganpati in our house like my friends did and call friends over for prayers and prasad. She suggested, if I made my own ganpati with clay, she would let me call my friends for Aarti. I took her up- We picked up clay from Wagh Studio in Chowpati and I made my own Ganapati statue. As promised, my mother allowed me to invite my friends for arti.
Ganapati utsav to me had always been a celebration of creativity. To me Ganapati’s form is a perfect inspiration for creative expression.
After my daughter was born we continued to celebrate ganesh charurthi in our home- even after I had decided that I was an aethist. It was a ritual that reminded us of the Social awareness campaign initiated by Lokmanya Tilak.
In 1985 the then Chief Minister of Karnataka, Ramakrishna Hegde gifted a sandlewood Ganpati to my father on his 61st birthday. For the past 35 years we continue to celebrate Ganesh chaturthi- by decorating this Ganapati at home. The tradition continues even to date in the US.
Praying to Ganpati during chaturthi does not make me a believer. I do not pray to the god in the heaven. When I close my eyes and sing a prayer — I reach out to the god inside- my conscience. I pray to that god, that i should never stop listening to my conscience. I pray that the sense of aesthetics I developed while making a ganapati statue as a child should continue to guide me to make the world more beautiful. Ganapati teaches me to respect those who are believers of every faith even if I am not. Ganesh Utsav also reminds me that the true legacy of Ganesh Chaturthi celebration is the intentions with which Lokmanya Tilak started it and that I should use this opportunity to promote social justice. and secularism.
Therefore today, I celebrate the creativity inspired in me by Ganpati and hope that India will preserve its legacy of unity in diversity.
Ganpatibappa Moraya.
