The Homemade Bappa

One of the many fights that I have with my sister is over our favorite Gods. Yes, we Hindus have so many Gods that we can actually afford to fight with our siblings over them when we have nothing better to do. It has become kind of a family activity for us during the festive seasons. I claim that Lord Krishna is the best, while my sister roots for Lord Ganesha, ‘He is the cutest’ being her motto. Hence, there is an eternal Kanhu vs. Gannu fight at the Verma residence.

I know it’s lame for a ‘grown up’ like me to fall for such petty arguments, but if you have a sibling, you will agree that fighting with your brother or sister, just over any matter, is the best entertainment you can get, any day. I secretly find Ganesha very adorable, but I won’t tell her that.

This year as the days neared Ganesh Chaturthi, birthday of Lord Ganesha, we were excited to pick up a new Ganesha idol. According to the custom, we invite Lord Ganesha into our homes by placing his idol at our house-temples, treat him like a beloved guest, providing all hospitality for ten days, like flowers, food, fruits, sweets, cloth, every and anything that you can affectionately offer Him (Even chocolates! We like to share it with Him :P). Then at the end, the idol is worshiped again and immersed in water, preferably a river or a sea, which symbolizes the Lord’s merging with the ocean of consciousness and departure to His heavenly abode. It is believed that when Ganesha goes away after staying at our homes, He takes away with him all our troubles and blesses us with wisdom and fortune.

I and Radhika, my sister, badly wanting some wisdom for each other, went to pick up our Gannu Bhaiya for this Chaturthi. Small artisans around Delhi put their skills on display during this season. Many of them put up canopies to sell Ganesha idols in vibrant colors and vivid poses. One might see Ganesha lying on an arm and reading a book, Ganesha resting, Ganesha playing dholak or damru, and the usual, Ganesha sitting Godly, his right hand showering blessings at us. You just have to pick and choose. Just when we were about to buy one, a thought struck. All the idols were made of Plaster of Paris and not clay. And since PoP is not soluble in water, the Ganesha idols made of PoP later pollute the river they are immersed into. Isn’t this a very non-religious thing to do? No religion encourages harming our environment. And what can be a greater blasphemy than using your own God’s idol to pollute the rivers that themselves are worshipped as Goddess’ in India! So, we decided, better not have Gannu Bhaiya at our place than making him pollute the rivers.

As we returned home with sullen faces, sulking at not having Ganesh Chaturthi the way we wanted, the Super-Mom came to our rescue. Ma had a brilliant brain-wave. ‘Why don’t we make our own Ganesha this year, with clay?’ she said. That flipped our moods downside up. Why not? In fact, according to the legend, Ganeshji was actually created by Goddess Parvati using her sandalwood paste. She later breathed life into Him. What would be better than having our Ma make Ganeshji out of clay? The Goddess had sent our mother where She could couldn’t be herself, literally. 

So here’s what she made for us, our very own Ganeshji (See picture). And we had the best Ganesh Chaturthi by far. 

Making this idol was not tough. We just started with love and dedication, after which the idol seemed to evolve out of clay almost effortlessly. The best part is, we have decided to use the Tulsi pot to immerse it in some Ganga-jal. That way, nothing gets harmed, the dissolved clay adds to the plant’s nourishment, and Ganeshji may return to His place happily, leaving us with his blessing and a memorable, guilt-free Ganesh Chaturthi.

If you too plan to invite Ganesha to your place this year, make sure that when He departs, you don’t end up spoiling his very creations. Not polluting the nature is also a form of service to God.

Ganpati Bappa Morya!!