Ganesh Charturi

Well it is festival season here in India... and this time it's for Ganesh. Ganesh is a half human/half elephant god that is revered as the god of wisdom, fortune, and maybe something else. The festival starts on his birthday (which was yesterday) and lasts for an odd number of days. The festival is very elaborate here in Maharashtra (the state Mumbai is in) and is important to Mumbai's economy, as you will be able to tell from my pictures... there is quite a market for Ganeshes and Ganesh adornments. The festival begins with Ganeshes parading down the streets. It appears that either neighborhoods, businesses, or families sponsor Ganeshes... and the hope is that you have the most ornate Ganesh. They move through the streets with a procession of drums and fanfare, to arrive at what I've dubbed the "Ganesh huts" all of the city. These "huts" appear quite ugly and haphazardly constructed, but are ornate temple like structures on the inside, where Ganesh sits prominently ontop his throne. Ganeshes come in all sizes and outfits... and will become even more ornate as the week progresses and more gifts are offered to him. At the end of the festival, which comes on an odd number of days, and is the 25th of September this year the Ganeshes are submerged into the Arabian Sea... a sight I look forward to seeing. Interestingly enough, Ganesh idols used to be made out of the earth, so this was a symbolic returning of the materials to the earth... however, Ganesh statues are now made out of plaster of paris and spray painted bright neon colors... so this submergence of the idols has been quite the environmental problem and apparently makes the Arabian Sea even more toxic for the few days following the festival and shoals of dead fish...

The festival is pretty spectacular, and the Ganeshes are pretty amazing so you will have to check out the pictures. I have been exploring the neighborhood on a Ganesh hunt, and have been impressed with quite a few of them, and am thoroughly enjoying the lights strung up throughout the neighborhood! I also enjoyed watching some of the processions, as the dancers encouraged me to join in (I politely declined).

Most of my weekend has been low key... I've just gone on a few walks and pretended to start studying for exams. I fear my celebrity complex will go unfed once I return stateside though. I was at the Sheraton for their Sunday brunch today with Rachel and Carey. The brunch was delicious, although I could only eat half a plateful before I was full... but the service was over the top. We had a guitarist serenading us, a mime attempting to entertain us (I'm afraid we found him funny for reasons other than his abilities as a mime), and practically an entire wait staff waiting for us to make the slight indication we might need something. The brunch was rather expensive, but we didn't mind since it was a buffet and delicious. The desserts were particularly decadent but I only had room for a few chunks of kiwi... darn shrunken stomach. At the end of the meal, we were handed comment cards (as we often are here... they are very anxious to know our opinion) and then the chef came over and asked us what we liked, what we didn't like, what else we wanted, what was our favorite, etc. etc. etc. We couldn't assure him enough that the food was great and we would eat more if we weren't full... but this didn't stop him from bringing us over more food to try. Then one of our many waiters came over and asked what our favorite restaurant was, where we usually ate, what we liked in a restaurant, and proceeded to hand us the business card of the manager of the Sheraton so that we could call him personally on Saturday night if we were going to come to brunch on Sunday (mind you... there were plenty of other brunchers around... but we were the only westerners/Caucasians). After they had extracted enough marketing research from us, we asked for the bill. The bill came to just under $100 (I think $90 to be exact) and we paid... but then the bill was returned to us and we were told that because it was our first time there at the Sheraton, they would be covering our bill. On top of that, they had an amazing bathroom!!! (Too bad it's a 15 minute taxi ride away). On our way out we were lavishly thanked ... and we felt like quite the celebrities :-) I think once I return to the States... it will be weird to not be the cause of near-accidents from motorcyclist turned 180 degrees to stare at you... it will be weird to not turn the head of every person on the street... and it will be weird to not have restaurants consider you the most prized diner... so you see, I will miss some things in India. Being a celebrity and the cheap prices.