GANPATI & GANPAT!

Last evening as I returned from office, I had to stop because of a fairly large size procession passing by. Yes, its ganesh festival. After staying for a few days in homes, and in pandals, lord ganpati is going back to his abode. And people are saying a goodbye to him in style, and with lots of spirit. Fine, nothing wrong in that! Celebration and festivals, are a part of every society. 

However, something zapped me last evening. On an open truck there was a large sized ganpati idol, sitting in style, looking majestic, decorated fondly with jewellery and flowers and all. In front of this truck was another smaller truck, complete with a music system, and 2 dozen speakers of various shapes and sizes. A zombie like crowd of about 60 odd men, and 20 odd women were going berserk with a variety of dance moves. And with a deafening sound, large enough to rip off eardrums of passers by, this song was blaring “ chal Ganpat, thoda daaru laa!” 

For a moment I stood still, trying to figure out what was happening. I wondered, if God was omnipresent etc etc, would the Ganpati on the truck feel odd about a song where ganpat is asked to fetch liquor? And devotees dancing to such a song? 

I am not here to lecture on moral values and all, I myself am not a saint! However I have a different point altogether. Just by the roadside there were houses on both sides. I am sure there were a few very young babies, and a few very old people in those houses. There could be a few people unwell too. And no one seemed to be worried about the high decibel blast from those speakers! 

Have we become so insensitive to others’ problems? Don’t we care for aged people, and newly borns at all? Does music always have to be played at the highest volume, to enjoy it? I was just trying to imagine a scenario. Assume someone objects to such high volume, I am sure some aggressive elements from the society immediately will come to defend the organizers, saying that this is a direct attack on our centuries old Indian culture. 

Finally a humble poser to the moral police in our society. Valentines day celebrations are not Indian culture, accepted. But then is singing “ganpat, thoda daaru la” in front of ganpati, a part of our rich traditions?

Tags: ganpat, ganpati, daaru, moral, society

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