Lord Ganesha is quite a big deal in most part of the country but the charm is something else in Maharashtra. Ganesh chaturthi is a big festival in here, the fervor can be traced back to history got further impetus by Bal Gangadhar Tilak as means for religio-socio assertion against imperialism. Frankly this blogger believes, keeping in mind recent happenings, most people don’t have the luxury nor the time to delve into history. People who have greed for power and other benefits tend to rake up history quite often. Indeed history has become quite subjective, and being used by powerful for their own benefit. Most common people have no time for history present is quite challenging enough, of course if present is significantly impacted by history then yes (but frankly it rarely does, it is contemporary realities that affect the events much). Indian politicians have start to take the cue from international ‘leaders’, who more than any kind of leading are much adept in selling books!!. When in responsible position that affects our life they bungle up and then after retiring write memoirs explaining!. I am told Mister Bush is writing a big one. I sincerely hope people don’t buy these books.
Well…well I was talking about lord Ganesha!. I recall while in school at Pune most classes used to keep Ganesha for puja, some kids in each class organized and we roamed around the school going to each class finding out how they have arranged. It was quite a big event and terrifically exciting. In Pune city too the decoration of each pandal was stuff of legends, I distinctly recall dagdu halwai. And then there is excitement of Ganapathi Visarjan. Few years back kids in neighborhood dump it in the well in my compound, now they are confused as there is no water. Last year I found this bunch of kids who came with their mini Ganesha, surreptitiously climbing wall to the well, one asking “how come there is no water in the well despite rain?”. Good question.
I am sure most of us have heard about story of Lord Ganesha from elders, these stories were quite riveting and Am
ar Chitra Katha series were in demand, now of course there are animation movies and so on. Elephants are amazing animals, and those programs in National Geography and Animal Planet have helped me understand them better. Whenever we came to Kerala we first go to Guruvayur Temple, this place is probably the most visited of all places by the blogger, I love the ambiance of the place. So my tryst with elephants began here, the screaming protest as the gentle elephant extended its trunk to bless is etched in memory. Most temple festivals were about elephants and I was enamored, we kids always scamper around them till the 
papan (mahout) shooed us away. Guruvayur Keshavan was a legendary elephant and there are statues of him, movies made, tales of his valor and dedication to lord. Some homes even have picture of him they they use as deity. Of course animals should be in jungle but elephants have a special place, most are treated quite well. That however is not a reason for exploitation in name of faith. There are people who can tell names of elephants in different temples on their finger tips. Elephant is much part of life here, a century back having an elephant was considered status symbol!. With commercialization things are degraded rapidly and these magnificent animals are exploited. There are strict laws but are broken with impunity. The Railways are also accused of deaths of many elephants in particular around valayar (Kerala-TN border), despite these they haven’t really taken any steps to prevent. It is quite sad state of affair, I am very grieved seeing the bodies of elephants hit by train.
O what a magnificent animal elephant is, every time you watch them you are transfixed. This blogger has the hobby of collecting miniature elephant statues, wherever I travel I try to get one and I have atleast hundred of them: sandalwood elephant from Mysore to onyx from Pakistan (bought it from exhibition by Pakistani traders many years back), the paper mache from Kashmir and bamboo twined from Assam are my favorite (It started in Rishikesh where I bought this miniature elephant and took at as lucky charm, soon I started to like it and it grew). It is amazing to look at hundreds of miniature elephants of varying splendor; if possible I wouldn’t mind filling a room from different parts of the world. I have already spent a fortune on it.
