Ganesha Chaturthi in Mangalore

Although I reached Mangalore on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi, I know I did not miss much, because that is only the beginning for us Mangaloreans. The first day of the Chaturthi only signifies bringing or welcoming of the Lord Ganesha to our homes. The festival only starts after that and it generally lasts for around 10 days or so. Some people have a send-off party for our dear Ganesha on the same day (thats how it is at my dad's ancestral house - where my parents attend the festival), whereas some of them send him away on the day of Nopi (10 days from the day of festival) - that is how it is done in Mumbai. Some others keep the lord in their houses for a month and then send him off.

Here, at Mangalore, different temples follow different traditions and so I got to see atleast 5 different Ganeshas being sent off :) I could not attend our ancestral fest (maternal side). However, I got to see other community fests happening and ending. One of them is our very own Venkataramana Temple Ganesha idol. A very beautiful one I must say. I regret to say that I did not bring my camera along for my Mangalore visit this time. So I do not have many pics with me to put up.

The 2nd Ganesha that I saw was the Sanganiketan community Ganesha. Huge in stature and very commanding looking, but very beautiful and so different to look at than the other idols you might see around the city. The last but not the least was the procession I went to see - for the Nehru Maidan Ganesha. This idol is also very huge and the entire city comes together to watch this procession, which includes around 15 tableaux marking the start of the procession, and then comes our lord Ganesha at the very end of the line. The only difference with this Ganesha - even though being very large - is that the face of the Ganesha looks like a small kid - so its very very beautiful to look at and a very enjoyable sight.

During this procession, I walked for around an hour rushing through the various tableaux. Main attractions were the Mahishasura Mardini, Krishna Leela, Bala Ganesha Leela - where he stops Shiva from entering Parvathi's quarters - hence leading to birth of the elephant face lord, Lord Hanuman's story and many more. So by the time we saw the Ganesha towards the end of the procession, it was raining torrentially as is the usual Mangalore climate. We had to then rush back to our house lest we get stuck in the rain - we had gone on foot. So we rushed quickly back home and meanwhile got drenched in the rain a bit :) I was a bit scared that I would catch a cold - but thankfully I didn't.

However, by the time we got back, I had a bad-ass pain in my back which was not allowing me to put one step ahead of the other by the time we reached close to home. Somehow I managed to get back home, climb upstairs, freshen up and fall into bed, dreaming about the next Ganesha Chaturthi - hoping to take my baby to see its first Ganesha festivities at my dad's ancestral house. Lets see what next year has in store for me. Until then....

- So