Ganapati Pooja

VInayaka Chavithi, Ganesh Chaturthi , Ganpati Pooja...
My favourite festival.Because there are a lot of memories tied to it.Every year its special.Every Year its memorable.Every year its fun.
My way of unleashing my creative abilities(what ever they are).





The Making of Ganesha:
The story dates back to the time when I was at school.We were in a big house with two floors and two flats in each floor.There were four families in the house.One of the families was the Padmaja Akka family. Padmaja Akka, the youngest was the most active member.Her mother expired when she was young.She lived with her father and other sister.

That year she invited us to see her Ganapati.She made it herself.She made it out of Turmeric paste.I was so impressed with that, me and my brother wanted to make it too.
so began our mission.We had to find some clay first. we dug up some from teh back yard. not a very good quality, but some earth.And My brother started making the Ganesha.the project was audacious.With my constant 'Wowww it looks so good' approvals from the background...he did end up with a foot long Ganesha.I remember we made a standing ganesha.We sure found it very cute and beautiful.We had that Ganesha Worshipped in our mandir that year.My mom always let us do things we wanted and encouraged us.


so from then on, it became a ritual.My bro, as with everything else, would lose interest in it after the first time.THis was no exception.He never made another Ganesha ever.But I was hooked.


I loved the feeling of wet clay.the Mother earth and my interpretatons of the elephant God.

One time it was Ganapati with Siddhi and Buddhi, one time it was Ganapati on a Snake .One time it was Ganapathi with 4 heads.one time it was Lakshmi Ganapati.The Decoration took a new form every year.soem time it was the cheap color stones I took out of the finger rings.some times it was the shiney chips they use for embroidery.or the shiney silver, gold n pink powder.Making Ganehsa was always so much fun and fulfilling.




Four years at college, I always missed Vinayaka Chavithi AT home.but I had my ways to make it special.HOSTEL!!. we were a gang of people, majority from Maharashtra. they used to get Ganesha Idol from home when they came for the new semester starting August.
We created settigns and Pandals in the hostel recreation hall.it was 11 days of full fun and pooja (and impress gurls with our creative and Spiritual side of us).That was the only tiem gurls were allowed in to boys hostel.Ofcourse, only in to the recreation hall ;-).
We had the pooja for 11 long days and the Nimmarjan was ALWAYS SO MUCH FUN!!.We used to go to Awah devi.The Jhelam River and small springs....it was always good times.
The trasition was gradual.from the bubbly juniors playin in the water to the watchful seniors making sure the juniors dont wander too much in to the deep waters. College is always a wonderful series of good memories.I can write an epitome on it, I remember the days so vividly.


Like I already said, Vinayaka chavithi was always memorable at home.

If I have to label my childhood moemories, I can divide the whole time in to two

Phase one, from my kondergharten to primary school, in Vanasthalipuram
Phase two, Highschool (Class 5 to 9 ) in tirupati.
Class 10, Iam not sure if I can term that as childhood,so I categorize it under the 'Normative Years of my life'
the engineering as the 'Formative years of my life'.(I cant figureout which one is the first phase in human psychology..in all I juss realised there is world beyond my imaginery , fairytale world during class 10. and in in engineering, I knew me).



So, getting back to vanasthali puram.....I cant help but give a little intro about the place.
This is a locality, far away from the hustle bustle of Hyderabad.its 25 odd kilometers off the main city, on the vijayawada highway.
We moved to this place after I was born because my relatives stayed in Vanasthalipuram.
and my dad's office was in abids, not very far.
some of my very best and happy memories are tied with this place.
again, I am getting so much material for my blog.....its good to make ur mind think ...some times
I can write about Vanasthalipuram
I can Write about my Dogs
I can Write about Tirupai
I can write about my Class 10 and Gautami
I can write about my Crushlist
OMG!!
I can write about REC Hamirpur.....oowwwooww u r in for a huge torture...

Vanasthalipuram is all about the employees from the State secreteriat.All Government employees. NT rama rao had a housing colony built for them, hence its filled with those 9 to 5 government employees.
No wonder the life starts early and ends early too.
people know each other by name( they did, when I was young) knew whats the latest gossip, and above all, very very warm n social.
And as with a very content community, they were very religious.
and VInayaka Chavithi was one occassion they would show all their talents and skills.

There is this very old temple, 'Ganesh temple' in Vanasthalipuram.Its very very famous and its the first stop when you enter vanasthalipuram by bus.
The temple occupied only a fraction of the land it owned and the rest was used for community recreation ( read poojas and kinds).and during Vinayaka Chavithi, they used to screen 'Devotional' movies for the 11 days.( all the members of mechie fraternity, i AM talking about the devotional movies.not OUR kind of 'Devotional' Movies'.Vanasthalipuram is very conventional).
IT used to be talk of the town (it was a town in itself).Everyone kept a track of the next day's movies.
wrapped up chores so they can catch with some divine entertainment.but in all, more than the religious fervour, its human emotion that was evident every where. the socializing, meeting new people, bonding....'How are you?' was never so Genuine after that phase.
I can still feel the warmth of the Old lady who enquires about the developments in the family.
and the excitement with which middle aged women shared them, as if she were their own mother.
They juss know each other from such community meets.Vinayaka chavithi, Sravana Sukravaram( Andhra Version of Karva Chaut), Ugadi..
Mom had an aquaintance in almost every side street of the colony.
She has this amazing ability to find people from her home town, Eluru.you leave my mom on moon, she would find one soul there, who is from Eluru.
and My Grandmother , was her mother in this sense.she used to update the new members from Eluru at Vanasthalipuram everytime she wrote a letter to mom.SO mom had a lot of people to meet and updates to exchange.

Vanasthalipuram is developed by the Government and it was clusters of houses.the HUDA houses which were unromantically named 'A1' 'B1' and so on...A type quarters were single bedroom houses.B types are single but were bigger with lot of space around the house.C type were bigger with 2 bedrooms.and everyone in Vanasthalipuram had this horrific identity of these house numbers.
I still dont know the names of 'B50 Auntie' 'C74 Akka' ' A1 Uncle'.
We were in this house called B1, and we were called the 'B1 Family'. My 'Definition' childhood memories are attached to this house. Mom feeding us under the moon light.Dad playin with us in the mud.Mom learning to drive a scooter.Flying kites with dad .......Playing Cricket....gettong seriously hurt.....getting ourselves in to danger( I still remember I got my head in to the Iron creeper support, which arched above the main gate.We had this beautiful white rose creeper , makinga beautiful white arch with those bunch of roses.And THANK GOD dad was at home that day.I could take my head out of iron grill, and I was dangling in the air with my head in the arch...woww, I raised enuf noise that the whole colony was at my gate).Oh YES...I Can write another bolg on vanasthalipuram episodes.

NOW ..................if you forgot what this blog was all about...this is about my Vinayaka chaviti memories......HAHHAHA AHA..........do revisit my page plse.....

My very first memories of Vinayaka chavithi were in B1.I just started going to school and we setteld well in teh colony. Dad created this 'Picture perfect' family. A wife n a Husband, and their three lovely kids.and the first signs of becoming independent is...if you celebrate you own festivals, all by yourselves...withut going to your hometown. And like a responsible head of the family, all the onus of a successful festival lied on dad's 'Cool' shoulder.I said cool because, he never bothered until something is very very urgent.so on a Typical Vinayaka chavity, Dad , the 'DO it all by yourself' dude, would find a new problem to fix.scooter to be rehauled.some fence to be fixed.or the drain to be un clogged.
And mom is the exact opposite.....slightest action, she wd be hyper excited and tensed.so the Vinayaka chaviti mornings were and ARE ALWAYS hectic, with a lot of shoutings and 'You will never change' curses. and after my mom is done with all her energy and shouting..My dad wold start the decoration.he has a very good sense of beauty and is very creative and artistic.the problem is....when he starts the decoration when the rest of the world is about to complete thier pooja.so it goes on and then we would join him and help him.
one thing that always stayed like my dad's cool head and my moms hot temper, is my brother's endless mischiefs.This was one special episode.Dad, like all dad's on mother earth, has this tortourous humm....that would wake the dead out of their graves. once he starts....its almost some tantric chant session 'Le...Le..Le' (translated ... get up, get up get up).And my brother is the only person who can survive it the longest.and after comparing him with all available relatives from my mothers family...my dad would give up.And then my brother would wake up.then the pooja starts.( I cant recall anytime when it started before 12 noon, we used to get up by 5 AM ...).

Oh yeh, how did I forget to mention the patri....The 101 diffrent kinds of leaves that we need for pooja....I used to break atleast on complete tree's worth of green stuff to get my pooja leaves.
The Datura flower and the spiney nut.The Jilledu, I forgot the biological name.....the one that oozes milky liquid....and other leaves.It was my opportunity to do what I love the most.....to get lost in the beauty of mother nature....the smells of fresh green....to know how different leaves feel when you touch them....the intricacies of the wild flowers...the diversity of mother nature..........

One of the most memorable part of it....the Pooja itself.
dad has this wonderful way in which he tells things.his narration skills are wonderful.No one at home got them though.its very very wonderful to listen to a story from him.he will , for sure, take you in to the land of the fairytale.
and the way he does pooja and read the Ganesha story was also wonderful.I can still hear his voice 'Samanthaka mani tho kooda tana baalika aiyna Jambavathi ni icchenu'. I used to read the story throughout the day ...the same story again and again..............I found myself in the 'Dwapara Yuga' or see Parvathi making her little son out of 'Pindi'.I wish I never Grew up and learn to 'Reason' and to search for 'Logic'.

The pooja always moved on a fast track, because my dad could stand hunger and it became evident thru the end of the pooja.He cdnt read some lines, or cant read out loud anymore.

And then came the 'Our part' of pooja.
We used to keep all our note books and text books at Lord's feet....for a uninterrupted and glorious academic year.I dont know how honest we were with this par tof pooja, atleast my Academic life has never been 'Uninterrupted'.
OK, let me admit it.....I never went to school
Never found reason or logic.......
How much of the stufff that we learn in schooll, of the people we read about....learnt all that they 'Discovered' or 'Invented' in the school.I think they could do it sheerly because they never went to school
but my family never quite understood my logic.....and I had to do my MBA....

OK...back to pooja again...
If it was my mother who did all the shouting through out the first part of the day, it was my Dad's time for vengence, in the noon.My mom would alwyas try and clean the world up before she started cooking.and she wants to make a million things for the pooja.with absolutely no help , she struggled getting things done.Its almost like a count down.We start singing the mangala harathi, and I know whos the most tensed....my mom.
then my dad would ask for the naivedyam, the offerings.
almost all the times, there WILL be something which is 'Almost done'. and thats my dads chance to take his revenge

after series of shoutings and explanations, and some meek defence from my mom, the pooja would be done.
and my poor mom would do HER pooja after we are all done and ready to eat.

Woow, Lunch......a typical festive lunch and additional 'Undrallu and Allam Pacchadi'. Because God was not ready to share his 'Amrutam' with Mankind.....he left back some recipies so man knows how it tastes. This combo is one such recipe...
The eat sessions would go on till evening.

Evening session is special too.
thats the time to show off your Ganesha....your pooja mandap and your decoration skills.
There used to be this 'B49' auntie's son who was the eldest in our colony ( a college guy in his junior college....I think).He used to make this colourful and rotating 'Chakra' behind his Ganesha.
That was the attraction of the colony.
He used the motor that they use in the battery run toy trains.It was such a wonderful and exciting part of Vinayaka chaviti, year after year. we were all awed and it was nothing less than rocket science for us.
My bro , as usual , did try doing the same, but somehow we either made the 'Chakra' too heavy, or we could never connet the battery to the motor properly.But it was fun .........


Vinayaka Chaviti was lot of emotions...of triumph and disappointment , of awe and beauty....of faith and bonding.

Of looking forward to a new year....Of counting the blessings from the last..

Of knowing new people, of discovering new ways of bonding
of sense of being a family, a part of a community

festival of honing some organising skills, some social skills and connnecting with the Nature....