Ganapathi Bappa moryaa............

Mom said to me and vishwa "Get ready soon, aunt's car will be here soon, else we are going to be late". We both were still counting our crackers, arranging them till we are pleased. Finally, the car arrives. Its always a part of plan of our cousins to get into Sujatha aunt's car as she the only one who can be one among us and be a part of our anthakshari group. However aunts are ok, but no uncles in whatever case. Not Basu kaka as we know, will get only education related lectures the entire journey. Not prabhu kaka , because everyone fears him. Not others because they dont understand what we are doing. Tej kaka was fine anyway. The fun part of anthakshari was pooja and krupa always wanted to team up with vijakka( they used to imitate her in a million ways otherwise also actually), but it was true vijakka's team was always the winner, even my cheating tricks couldn't save our team :( . It would be the most awaited journey for all of us as it will be unlimited fun. The competition between differnet cars as to who will reach first, the jokes cracked are all just.......!!!. Finally we will reach Gandigawad.

Now is the most interesting task, to construct the mantapa. Usually all cousins, suresh kaka, shankara kaka, Tej kaka will be at the job. But the design always remains the same. The outer framework of a cot, inside which a table will be placed. Two threads hanging vertically from the roof upto the all the edges of the table, this is were we could stick the colored papers, a product of our creative designs. A table cloth , and lots of dust ridden play toys(because this will be the only time they will be opened) which need immediate cleaning to be placed in front the idol. This total process usually takes 5-6 hours. By the way, in the kitchen, aunts will be on their gossip and bursts of laughter's. We join them periodically as we should complete the task of mantapa also. After all this, now its the uncles task to make us all get to bed. But no one will be ever interested. The number of cousins almost number to a dozen, and the energy levels are only soaring as the time passes. Finally time to go to bed, all cousins lay one beside another, as it gives chance a trouble one another thoroughly. And i wish, there will be only one blanket as the tug of war can keep going. And how did i miss that table fan? ya, its only one of its kind. It vibrates so much that it almost crawls to the bed from where ever it is. To prevent the damage my dad usually used to tie it with the rope.

Its morning, vijakka, me, ash, pooja, vishwa, kiran, krupa, abhay, tushar, vikas, chintu, even rakshita had joined in the very important job, collection of crackers. All uncles are pestered, until we will have a handful. All set with our incense sticks, match boxes, crackers, we start the most auspicious journey. Towards shetter's shop, a left turn, then straight, until that jain temple , then a right, go further and then a left, the second house is the one where we get the idol from. The soil we be damp and we are walking without any footwear, which are thought of as violating the sanctity. Shankar kaka is the one who carries Lord Ganesha all the time. As soon as he comes out carrying the Lord, we are ready with our crackers. Cautioning each other about some stray crackers, flicking other's crackers, ya we do all that, and all that is fun. We reach home back, A puja is performed to welcome the Lord. And devotional songs follow. My mom and dad usually sing that "Jyothi belaguthidee..." Its kind of a trademark song. The best time will be when pooja and krupa are made to sing a song. Those gals sing at the top of their voice, and me and ashvini cant stop laughing. All uncles and aunt busy appreciating the girls singing, cant stop giving an angry look at us both.

Its time for more crackers and crackers and crackers. Then food , just an awesome delicacy always. After that we have time to chat, crack jokes, and then i forgot going into that small room to burn those snake tablets, and some other crackers with all the funny names. Finally a call from uncles and aunts..time to leave. This would be the most hated part, but yet forced to do. As we bid adieu to Gandigawad , in the car all are so tired that no one will have enough enthusiasm to even talk, but hoping for next year we will meet up the same day again desperately.

Today is one such day. Now a days Gandigawad is abandoned, we welcome Lord Ganesh in our home in Hubli. Some aunts and uncles turn up. My sister and jiju cant make it up this time, as they are in US. Abhay cant make it because he is busy with his engineering. Pooja and vikas, oh please forget them, they are in PU II. Only some four cousins are having fun together and trying to relive the moments. And my self, I'm very busy with that scalablility issue and that customer issue and that new hire mentoring and that too I took a long leave recently. Ya, see I justified myself. And in the same way others too do it. Ya life has changed a lot. May be this is the truth. May be as we started moving away from the wilderness to the concrete jungle, we also started moving away from what we love to the things that are necessary.

A sweet relevant poem(Thank san for this):
The innocence is gone-
It has fled from them and me.
It has vanished,Never to return.
In this lifetime

It is gone from us,
Those who have it, cherish it,
It goes quickly and quietly
And we never know that it is gone,
Until it's too late.

Very much hope someday in the future, all cousins go to Gandigawad back again to celebrate this festival in the way it was meant to be celebrated. And we get to relive those cherished moments.