The public is still getting over the Ganapti-hangover. 10 days of food and festivity, modaks and miravnooks, dancing and devotion.. all comes to an end with a bang. This year I had the great fortune of visiting the golden-boy of all Ganapatis, Lalbaugcha Raja. For you to understand his stature you need to know the facts: The idol is made on-site annually by Kambli Arts, it attracts roughly 2 crore visitors every year, the deity gathered 86 Lakhs worth of gold within the first 3 days of the festival, over 7 Crores in cash during 10 days, Border Security Force personnel are specially deployed to guard the deity, Bhakts stand in line anywhere between 12 to 90 hours in line to see the idol.
Thanks to a close family-friend who had contacts with a certain state-minister, we got VIP entries and like the thousand others, I went there with my prayers in mind, hoping for a serene one-on-one with the Vinayaka. Afterall, I was a VIP, how bad could it be?! Well what I thought and what I saw is almost like the difference between client budget and client expectation. The police were openly accepting cash-for-entry so anyone could be a VIP , which means it was no longer going to be a select, peaceful viewing. The police escorted us into a 3000-odd sq ft area which eventually lead to the main hall where the deity is kept. This area was already packed with VIP worshippers, from hoity-toity CEO types to regular Joes of the world. There was no line, no particular order that they had to follow which means all hell broken loose. Children were being tossed around like luggage, barricades were being trampled up, women were being viciously and indecorously shoved and muscled over. Rough and uncouth men bulldozed their way in by mercilessly pulling clothes and hair, almost as if they owned the joint. Howling and panting babies were commonplace (not sure what kind of a mindless mother would bring a toddler to a place like this), local "dalals" who had an unholy alliance with the cops, broke-down whatever little order one could find by forcefully and almost threateningly inserting their clients ahead of everyone else. Twice, I found myself stiffly stuck and bruised, hair pulled & disheveled, senses disoriented and almost choked with breathlessness. All this chaos were right under the nose of the "management" who had taken up the uphill task of managing a crowd so wild and defiant and at times criminal that they couldn't give a damn but to watch helplessly. At any moment, one poor soul would trip and fall and a stampede would break-out. It was a lot like traveling in the local train, once you are a part of the crowd, you move with it, without having to move a muscle of your own. And before I knew, I was standing in front of the most mesmerizing idol I had ever seen. Standing at 20ft, this grandeur surpasses only his popularity and acclaim. However I found no peace there, as again I was very painfully shoved against a metal barricade that left me aching for the next several minutes. After I drifted downstream like a lone leaf in this sea of people, I wondered what does this enigma, this adulation, this glory all mean when people leave this place all choked-up and hurt? When we have come to god's abode to seek his blessings, where is our sense of kindness and tolerance? How can we behave like savages and seconds later join hands in reverence? How can one God be so overwhelming that allows us to lose our basic human manners ironically at the same alter where we ask for the ability to be and do better? As I pondered this on my way out, the incoming crowd didn't seem to end, while the majority non-VIPs kept standing still, some for more than 30 hours straight. Funny you need ministry connections to make your own divine connection, yet another inexplicable irony of our unique society. Weird thing is, as I pen this down, I know I want to go back again next year, witness the same enigma, bow in humility and maybe walk out with a more pleasant experience .. I guess that's the magic of this King -- he makes you hopeful!