|| श्री गणेशाय नमः ||
*Winds and trees gushing. The land trembles in a humble welcoming way, doubting its ability to hold a divine deity.*
*An exhausted and stressed voice sighs a sentence*
Ganesha! What are we doing here so early? Uuugh that was a rough landing! Why would māte pack so much for you? This is so heavy!
Ganesha: Make it quick Mushak, we might get late because of your slow walking.
And she’s a mother, of course she packed up our food for us!
Mushak: Cannot argue with that! Don’t we get enough of that here already!? I mean, just look at your tond.
Ganesha: Hey! Look at yours!
Mushak: Hey!
Ganesha: Exactly! Now walk! I wanna see what my people are doing for me this year. There is always something new and I don’t want to miss the welcoming party, it’s the most fun part!
Mushak: I’m walking alright, but where to first? Same as last time?
Ganesha: Same as last time!
Mumbai!
Ganesha: I swear to Dad, Mumbai gives so many pleasing memories every year! I love how they make me the face of representation for so many things that are important and need awareness in their society. Now Mushak, the first thing we are going to do is check on them and take a look at the pre-traditional part! Put on your VR specs!
Mushak: *searching through his backpack* already on it Ganesha!
(Somewhere in a rented apartment in Goregaon. Shubham is talking to his parents on the phone.)
Voice on the phone: “Beta, you’re coming back home. We have booked your tickets.”
Shubham: “Haa Maa, I’ll start packing tomorrow!”
( Somewhere in Bhayandar. Minal comes home after a long day of college and working. Bag thuds. Her mom, says.)
Aai: “Beta, we’ll have to go to our hometown. Your uncle and aunty have invited us. Did you talk to your boss about the leave? What did they say?”
Minal: “It is all done! They approved it!”
(Somewhere in Kandivali. Mansi is just preparing chai. And she hears her mother calling from the other room’s balcony.)
“Mansi! How long are you going to take? They are going to be here any time now, I can hear the music!”
Mansi: *walking towards the balcony* “It’s done Mumma, are they here yet- *sees the roads filled with people and the welcoming procession going on* - oh the murti is so pretty!
(Somewhere in Virar. Deep is walking towards home and gets a call from his friend. He answers, the voice on the call says...)
“Bhai, you’re coming home for Ganpati!! No excuses!”
Deep: *wide smile spreading his face* You bet I am! Although I have a ‘Even All Sweets Are
Not Enough Sweets’ policy. Think you can keep up with that haha?
(Somewhere in Nahur. Riya is watching TV with her family. And her mother shouts from inside the kitchen.)
“Beta, Dadi has made modaks!”
Riya: *Already up on her feet and ready to leave* And you’re telling me now!!?? I’ll see you guys after dinner now, bye bye!
*VR Stops*
Mushak: *removes his VR specs* I already know what you are going to say. Don’t say it! Don’t say it!!!
Ganesha: “To the Modaks!!!!!!”
Mushak: Here we go…
*Computer login sounds. Keys on the keyboard chatter. Chattering stops. Pale shocked face*
… No no no no no no. This cannot be real, I should not work at night, now I am imagining stuff. Less coffee from now on. More sleep. This is not real. I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming. I’m crazy. I’m just plain ol’ sleep deprived crazy.
Ganesha: Hi Addded! How are you? Mushak say hi.
Mushak: Hello, want a modak?
Addded: Umm. I can’t believe this. This is real.
Ganesha: Oh we are so glad you are here. We were just about to go on a journey. Can you please be kind and suggest us some places.
Addded: Am I going crazy. Shree Ganesh and Mushak actually here? Holding a conversation with me? Is this some Bollywood spectacle life has put on me?
Mushak: Ganesh, what is going with this one here?
Ganesha: …
Addded: Oh! No! I mean, yes! Of course I can show you around a few families and lovely places that pay tribute to you. I’m sorry I am such a big fan! Excuse me I am just starstruck, sorry… God Struck! We wait and wait for so long every year and everyone loves you so much. There is just something different about the traditions followed. You perfectly just bring together; friends, family, colleagues. You are the divine reason we go to people’s houses, leaning over balconies and standing on the footpaths, looking out of our rickshaws, our cara, on our bikes, stopping wherever we are standing; trying to get one good look at your gracious face Ganesha. Oh the feeling of peace! The feeling of contentedness! There is simply no match. And of course the sound of aartis! Everyone’s favorite part!
Am I speaking too much? I’m speaking too much. I should stop talking now.
Ganesha: *chuckling* You amuse me! Is flattery your speciality Addded?
Mushak: Weren’t kidding about the ‘big fan’ part, were you? You are too cute!
Addded: I mean our speciality is a lot of things, we do customized corporate events, events for school organisations, we have a summer camp for kids it’s called GiGGLES and oh- oops sorry about that. Work burp reflex.
Mushak: hahaha! TOO CUTE!
Addded: I would be so glad to show you some families we found out that were very happy about your birthday. But! We were very curious as to what kind of effort and planning goes behind all of the celebrating and decoration and wanted little insights about what goes on BTS. I think you will love to see how much they love you!
Ganesha: I cannot wait!
Addded: First Up! We have the Joshi family! We had a really nice and healthy chat with Mr. Akhil Joshi who has taken this chance to thank the recent changes made in Kashmir. Moving on to his very enthusiastic answers, we have:
1. How long have you been following the tradition?
“It has been over 40 years since the first time we decided to get Ganesh ji at home. I was 8 years old when I started with this and we have followed the tradition very religiously.”
2. Why this particular theme?
“I chose this theme with the same notion I had joined politics with, ‘Kashmir seems ours.’ I wanted to humbly thank the people in power who made the abrogation of 370 possible. So our idea was just to capture all the famous places in Kashmir and to portray them in the decoration and of course make Bappa the highlight. We have also incorporated a quote that was used in old times, but we changed it a little bit. The quote was, “Jaha hue balidan Mukherjee; wo Kashmir hamara hai” and now because of the recent phenomenons we made it “... Ab wo Kashmir hamara hai”, because of the assurity.”
Joshi Pariwar Cha Raja
3. Challenges or obstacles? If any.
“There was not much going on in terms of challenges or anything. Just some people asking me about taking a political theme. All I said to them is that I am certain about this and wanted to do it, wanted to make a gesture of thank you and create a sense of awareness.”
4. A message you want to give Bappa.
“I just want to tell Bappa to help the citizens and the society to create and maintain a sense of equality for each and every one of us. And I am very sure that Bappa will help us in that area. I to tell Bappa to give us the strength and the positive thoughts to adapt the notion that if we share the same land, we should live in harmony and follow the same laws. Make the country unite.”
Addded: Next we are going to the humble abode of the Tapiawala family, where we talked to Aayushi Tapiawala who was very keen towards talking about you and what all their family has done for Bappa’s birthday. To give you a gist, they were too happy about the abrogation. Let us move on to the bubbly responses from Aayushi (spoiler alert! She loves Bappa a lot)
Tapiawala Pariwar Cha Raja
1. How long have you been following the tradition?
“Well, it has been going on since a very long time. My aunty’s side is very dedicated towards this and it has been some 50+ years we have been in this. And we are always excited for Gauri Ganpati.”
2. Why this particular theme?
“Just like every year, this year too, we were looking to pass on a message to the guests that we receive. And we wanted to acknowledge the big achievement that the government has made with the abrogation of Article 370. Not only that, like every year we have followed creating a piece of decoration that is easy to dismantle and does not harm the environment in any. We have taken care of every small detail and made sure that the things used, when disposed, shall not harm the nature. We have used paper mache, wood, cardboard, the flowers are made of paper. Except for the flex banner showing the scenic beauty of Kashmir, everything is eco-friendly.”
3. Challenges or obstacles? If any.
“Although ironic to what I do (architecture), we had a little trouble making the base of the shikara (the wooden boat as seen in Amar Prem and in Kashmir) as it was not measured properly. But Bappa helped us through it and our next best option was to use another chart paper which actually enhanced the look and made people think if it is made with only wood.”
4. A message you want to give Bappa.
“I have a very environmental mind, and as I said before, we always try to pick something that is recent in the news and work our theme and decoration around that. I would like to pray to Bappa for the security and improvement of the very environment we live and breathe in. I would like to pray to him and ask for help as I’m about to enter the world of architecture. I know he will help me because of the faith I have in him.”
Addded: So Bappa here we have another lively conversation with Dilip Mangaldas Mistry, who is into filmmaking and thinks that you have played a very important part in his life, just like everyone else’s. Let us leap onto the answers that Dilip Bhai delivered on the interview.
Mistry Pariwar Cha Raja:
1. How long have you been following the tradition?
“I am very glad to state that the tradition had started 40 years ago, by a 12 year old me. I have always been working my brain in the creative side, and just about 15 years back we have also started with focusing on the environment friendly part. Not only this, I love helping my society out and my friends too, have asked for theme related helps all the time. I love working for Bappa and making him the face of an important social message.”
2. Why this particular theme?
“As I mentioned before, the theme of Ganesh Chaturthi, for me always has a message behind it. The past few years I had put together a marriage mandap for Bappa and tried to portray his marriage with Riddhi & Siddhi, before that it was Bappa in the clouds sitting on a flying garud. And this year, I just wanted to show the mischievous and pure side of our sweet Bappa. So it him trying to pull pranks by climbing in his beloved father’s Trishul, and to grab his attention, he has removed the malas from it, thrown below is a dumroo, and you can see Mushak and his friends trying to offer the Mastikhor Ganeshji some food offerings so that he does not disturb Shivji in his dhyana mudra and refrains from grabbing the snake on the tree branch. It is how I imagined Bappa to be in his childhood and tried to portray his shenanigans into the theme.”
3. Challenges or obstacles? If any.
“None as such, did not face any problems. Bappa was and is with us throughout this journey of 5 days. We have used a flex in the background, made the trishul ourselves and the idol is made of clay.”
4. A message you want to give Bappa.
“I have but a very simple thing to say to Bappa, I request him to maintain peace in everyone’s homes and families. Because I believe that the problems in the society are sometimes caused by the problems occurring at home. It is a very humble request to him from my side that he helps us maintain peace.”
Ganesha: Wow! That was just great! And I thought you were the biggest fan I’ll meet today! I personally thank all the families that became a part of this and shared their concepts and thoughts, this made my birthday very special just like always. We got to experience the thoughts of these creative families and how I bring out the best in you. But now I have to go somewhere else now.
Addded: I know! We were glad to have you and are sad you are going, but we understand. Just keep looking upon us.
Ganesha: I always will! Let us get going Mushak…
Mushak: See you again next year then!
With this, Addded wishes you a happy festival & hope you have many modaks this season!
Thank you for reading! :)
- Team Addded.
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