Ganesh Festival taught me these 10 life lessons
On the last day of the month of Shravan we observe Pithori Pooja, Mother’s Day as per Hindu calendar, at our house. For me, this marks the onset of Ganapati Festival. My memory is that of watching the local electrician fixing the lighting in our lane as we prepared for the evening Pooja.
Going beyond the religious and spiritual beliefs Ganesh Festival brings people together. Looking back, participating in local Ganesh Utsav has been a foundation of these 10 important life lessons:
Community Participation
Community participation has been the essence of this favourite festival, celebrated in Mumbai and across Maharashtra with much love and devotion. Indian freedom fighter Lokmanya Gangadhar Tilak is credited with transforming this private celebration into a community festival. The Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav (public festival) was started to bring people together, unite them during the British Raj.
Growing up in Dadar, in central Mumbai, Ganesh Festival has always been about the community and the people. Old Mumbai was dotted with little wadis or lanes. Each wadi worshipped its own sarvajanik Ganesh idol. Living in a thriving cultural neighbourhood of Dadar Ganapti Utsav brought people living in and around these wadis together. It was a 10 day festival of people.
Belongingness
With people came belongingness. Everyone participated with a lot of love and affection in the celebrations. The true essence of making Ganesh festival public was unity. In 1980s participating in sarvajanik Ganesh festival meant strengthening this belongingness irrespective of the class, caste, economic and social background.
Volunteerism
Each participant became a volunteer regardless of the age or gender. Everyone would want to pick their favourite volunteering activity – be it distribution of Prasad, managing queue at the mandap, conducting cultural activities, co-ordinating with local authorities, etc. As young volunteers we probably learned ‘working in shifts’ or ‘team delegation’ during these 10 days.
Ganapati Friends
The sarvajanik Ganapati festival has given birth to some strong friendships. The term ‘Ganapati Friends’ will not be unfamiliar to many of you grown up immersed in these celebrations. Ganapati Friends were your neighbourhood buddies you usually met only during this festival. Or a gang of friends you loved to hang around with during Ganapati Utsav. Pandal hopping, helping with decorations and other arrangements or that mid-night roadside tea or snacks will be incomplete without them.
It was a similar equation for family ties and relationships. Household decorations, welcoming the lord in your house, religious rituals was an occasion for family bonding. Everyone would know at least one uncle, aunty, cousin in your neighbourhood whom you met only during the Ganapati festival. Enjoying the delicious modak and other food preparations in their company was a heavenly experience.
Team Bonding
This gang of Ganapati Friends became your team –whether it was participating in sports and cultural activities, helping someone with decorations or just chilling around and playing. Everything was a team activity. At the same time it instilled discipline and team bonding. Usually an elderly volunteer became a leader, guiding others in their respective activities. Each section / category had its own ‘elderly’ expert, we little champs were supposed to follow the instructions. This team bonding was particularly useful in securing that coveted place during functions, or an additional vada paav during the immersion procession.
Sportsmanship
With sarvajanik Ganesh festival came the sports and cultural activities. Like the Indian cricket team, every wadi had its own champs in winning different races and competitions. These 10 days of fun introduced games like musical chair, marble and spoon, peeth paisa (finding a coin hidden in a dish of flour without using your hands) in my life. Like sports, there was another set of heavy weight winners of the elocution competition, poetry recitation, fancy dress, lighting the candles, etc. Often the late night storytelling sessions would be full of these stories from yesteryears, imbibing in us the value of sportsmanship. These cultural activities have been the reason for many theatre artists to follow their dreams.
Sales
The only sales job I have done was during Ganapati Festival. The Utsav of our wadi was famous for its public lottery. On the day of the results our lane use to be filled with people, sometimes travelling from far away to know if they have won anything. Selling that Rs 2 lottery ticket was one of the most exciting things. Icing on the cake when you would be rewarded for selling more tickets!
Spiritual Connect
Since the early childhood my strong spiritual connect was while attending aarti during the Ganapati festival. Reciting and listening to aarti or devotional songs during any other time of the year never the similar impact. In pre-internet, liberalisation days only time we could hear devotional music full heartedly was during Ganapati. In fact I did not know some of these were commercial songs / commissioned songs played during this time. Attending aarti or aarti hopping was a spiritual and a fun experience. It still is.
Equality
The community participation, belongingness and volunteering sowed in us equality. No work / job/ duty for the celebration was considered inferior, or superior to something. As people and neighbourhood everyone contributed in their own capacity.
Appreciation
Above all Lord Ganesha teaches us appreciation – of our parents, relationships, duty, people around and the society. This teaching best symbolised when we heard appreciations about each other’s decoration. It taught us to appreciate someone’s creativity, art and skills.
Over the years Ganesh Festival has undergone many changes – with different influences. This year Covid-19 has subdued the celebrations and rightly so. Hopefully this reset will review the original essence of this festival, igniting many more minds and shaping personalities.
Nurture Winning Thoughts!
Tejal
