Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

Glorious as Ganesha is, are we forgetting
the importance of his celebration?
Image from Google

OK! Ganesh Chaturthi is not really exciting any more. It perhaps was exciting when I was in CIRS (my boarding school) because we got a holiday from school and we got sweets. But that is besides the points, people now-a-days are not celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi the way it was supposed to be celebrated.

Having a good time is part of all festivals, but honestly? getting drunk and trying to do inappropriate  physical acts to people is not cool. First of all does Ganesha even stand for getting drunk? Not really. What Lord Ganesha does stand for is knowledge and beginnings. Drinking in no way is knowledgeable and you are not really starting anything when you drink. Anyways, public drinking and losing control is unsafe and the law of the land forbids you to drink until one is 25.

Drinking as unsafe as it is, is not the entire story. I do not believe any God stands for GYRATING women and dancing to their filthy tunes. Okay, I might sound prejudiced, but playing Munni Badnaam, Sheila Ki Jawaani or Halkat Jawaani is not really celebrating God, or aspiring to imbibe their qualities in one. Ganesh Chaturthi is the festival of Lord Ganesha, not Malaika Arora-Khan or Katrina Kaif and their over-exposed body parts.

Celebration in India, has taken an absolutely pedestrian and family-unfriendly form. With everyone hurling abuses at everyone else, because things do not happen in systematic coordinated ways. Things happen randomly and bizarrely and of course that upsets those in charge. And is that why festivals are celebrated? to upset those who take responsibility?

If you are celebrating there is no reason, why you should force other people to join your festivity. The random person you have never seen before really did not want gulaal in his hair or face. Nor did any person want to get scared with your unnecessary loud fire crackers.

I do not even understand the point of firecrackers. All they are is this bursting wrapper which produces more gas than your body mass and makes more noise than any human eardrum can handle. Firecrackers are nothing more than a bundle of gas and noise and that in no way is aesthetic. Its absolutely annoying disturbing and environmentally harmful (think air pollution plus noise pollution). Why would you offer your God something that sounds alarming, shocking and makes people want to cover their ears and run for their lives or either end it. If you really want to announce yourself, the annoying-yet-musical band performers are more than enough, and at least the band seems more joyous and dance-y. Would you want to dance to firecrackers?

The entire celebration in India should be reconsidered. Celebration has become a nuisance, unnecessary traffic, loud noise, vulgarity, unnecessary trouble for un-celebrating folk.. Where is the original concept of Ganesh Chaturthi?

However, this is not universal. Only today I saw group of wonderfully peaceful people taking their God to the sea for Visarjan. They did not have a band, they did not burst crackers all they did was walk together and chant their Lord's glories, and somehow they seemed more happy than all the other noisy groups simply trying to protect their damaged hearing.

O Mon Dieu! NO?