The loud-speaker has forced me to write a few words on Ganesh Puja. I am a festival lover you see :) 

Deva O Deva Ganpati deva tum se badhkar kaun? Aur tumhare bahkt jano mein humse badhkar kaun?

Oh Lord Ganesha, who is more divine than you? And who could be a more devout follower of you but me?

The rest of the bhajan/song/prayer/hymn is about convincing God to bless us.

Ganapati Bappa Mourya, Agle barasa tu jaldi aa! 

O lord Ganesha, grace us and come by a  little early the next year. 

The rest of the prayer is about summoning the God to arrive on this earth again around the same time the next year and bless us all immortal souls. 

The translations (which I seem to be bad at) cannot actually reflect the devotion with which Hindus summon to Lord Ganesha for blessings. Lord Ganesha is considered the God of Siddhi and Riddhi, that is spiritual and worldly perfection. 

Ganesh festival symbolises the beginning of festivals in the Hindu calendar. We Indians love festivals. And we have plenty. I mean P.L.E.N.T.Y. We are a (proud?!) secular country and we have enough festivals from all religions to keep us on our toes, celebrating and having a good time, for 365 days in a year. With festivals come sweets (calories), new clothes, (more expenses) and celebration(loud speakers)

Find attached a picture of the last day of the festival. This is a picture of the 10th day on which the idol is submerged into water and the festival ends. 

Beauty and the beast or Bhajans and the loud speakers.

I love the celebrations, new clothes, sweets and the life that Indian festivals bring along. But there are some superbly annoying things associated with festivals. For the last 6 days, a neigborhood pandal has been playing Ganpati Bappa Mourya, agale baras tu jaldi aa... (refer to my next post to see what it means, in case you dont know yet.)

We have laws preventing clubs from playing music, or for that matter, even staying open after 11 PM. Yes, after 11PM we all gather at the push-cart tea shop outside the railway station and eat Omlettes (Yuuum!) 

On new year's eve, we cannot play music beyond a certain decibel level and the cops, as soon as they kiss their loved ones (fellow constables) happy new year, are out on their jeeps, chasing 20 somethings out of party destinations. 

But come festivals! and you can break all rules! Afterall, who are those mortals a.k.a cops and law keepers, to stop us from showering affection on Him? In fact if they did, their dismissal letters are just a laddoo away. 

My ears are begging of me to give them a change of music. I tried playing Toxicity and other SOAD tracks on my music system since they are the loudest of the lot. But hell, no! the speakers invariably take over ALL the music around you and replace them with the same agale baras tu jaldi aa track. 

I love all this fun and truly respect your feeling of love and devotion towards beloved Ganesha... but have mercy on the patients at hospitals, have mercy on the mosque goers trying to woo their God of belief, have mercy on mothers trying to put their babies to sleep, have mercy on lovers trying to silently gaze at each other, have mercy on the oldies at the local library, have mercy on poor me, I am taking the GMAT in 4 days...