BAPPA, PEASE DON'T GO

 




“In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words,

than words without a heart. ”
― John Bunyan

 

Yesterday was the last day of Ganeshotsav, the day of final visarjan. I had taken a day off and decided to rest -- do nothing of my routine things… no teaching, no writing, no cribbing…

It may surprise you to see ‘cribbing’ in the list of my ‘routine things’…

Yes Sir, even though I know gratitude is the best medicine for cribbing and complaining, I haven’t fully done with my deeply-rooted tendency to crib…

Perhaps, I am not alone in this. And, perhaps, that’s why Bappa keeps returning to this manavlok, every year. This time, He even stayed for a day more, so that He would provide an extra day for a person like me to crib a little less, if not stop it completely…

Bappa’s blessings had reached our household, decades ago… More than fifty years ago, a family in our immediate neighbourhood was from GSB community. In our hometown (Mangalore) the GSB community would traditionally follow this Mumbai-like Ganeshotsav… The idol would be brought home on the day of the Ganesh Chaturthi, worshipped for all the days, and, finally, taken out for the visarjan. We had a drinking-water well; and our GSB neighbours had persuaded my parents for the immersion of Ganesh idol in our well.

This tradition continued for years, till our GSB neighbours moved to another place. We continued to savour the water from our well, feeling blessed…

There was another tradition, which, even today, continues in our native home. Another Hindu family (now third generation) and our family (where my elder brother’s family lives) continue to exchange our respective festival delicacies –- We send them on Christmas, Easter, and Parish Feast… They send us on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi, Krishna Ashtami, and Deepawali. Imagine, this continuing for more than six decades!

Frankly, God appears for each one of us in different forms… Our prayers are said in different words… Our rituals look completely different… But, if we remove our biased lenses and start appreciating and respecting our neighbours’ ways and sentiments, are we not the true devotees of the Almighty God? Therefore, what John Bunyan says makes so much sense:


“In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words,

than words without a heart. ”

I believe, that prayer and devotion reach our Lord the fastest, when we offer them like little kids do… I have watched dozens of videos in which little kids cry, hug, and do not let Bappa, their favourite Deity, to go on visarjan day… I have cried watching these scenes. Jesus said, “Blessed are these children, for the Kingdom of God truly belongs to them.”





And, behold this scene, where the procession of Lalbaug cha Raja stops in front of the Hindustani Masjid near Byculla, on its way for visarjan… I am told, that, for nearly five decades, this touching scene has been unfolding!





Bappa blesses all…

He blessed our Christian household, dissolving into our well, whose water we drank all through… He blesses the pure-hearted Muslims, Sikhs, and every innocent soul…

So that, we all can learn, again and again and again, to crib about Life… yes, a little less, each passing year…

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s: Pixabay/Ravindra Panwar  

Video: 1.  rijwani's craetions  2. FN @filmynews

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