USSDIN BAPPA NE MUJHE AISA MARA KI DARD MUJHE AAJ BHI HO RAHA HAI

There is a believe, specially Maharashtrans that if u bring the idol of Lords Ganesh once into your house, you have to bring it every year whatever the conditions or circumstances in your house financial or otherwise- Ali Peter John

Mrs. Sunanda Rangnekar was my neighbour and her husband was a small time art director working in small flims made in hindi and Marathi and had died just a few months before the festival of Ganpati could be ushered in.

Mrs. Rangnekar had to continue living with her three daughters and one son and she kept doing it with the little money that she received from the producers her husband was working for.

Living was tough, but she was a firm believer in her " Ganpati Bappa " and believe that he would help her and family in overcoming every crisis...

It was the festival of Lord Ganesha and the festival was being celebrate all over Bombay and my village was no exception .

And Mr. Rangnekar surprised the village when even she installed and idol of Lord Ganesha in her one room tenement.

Her children had helped her in decorating the house and the family was in a festive mood for the one and a half day that the idol was kept ta home with all the customs and tradition and songs and aartis maintained...

Mrs. Rangnekar was criticized by some and praised by others for observing the festival even though her husband had just died, but she did just what she felt like doing...

It was time to take the idol for immersion and Mrs. Rangnekar did not know what to do because there was no male members in her family who could help her with the immersion.

She finally approached me who had a group of friends from all communities and asked me if I could take "Bappa" for his final farewell of the year.

I instantly agreed, not because of any religious feeling. But just because I and my friends could get a chance for some adventure and have some good food to eats after the adventures...

We reached the first pond and tried to drown the idol in it after mumbling something which sounded like Marathi prayers and my friends tried their best to drown the idol, but the idol would just not go down, but come up every time my friends try to drown it.

I tried to act smart and told my friends to go down a little deeper and they would find some muck ( khichadd) and ask them to dig the idol into the muck and my great idea worked and Bappa didn't come up again .

My brilliant idea worked and we all went back to Mrs. Rangnekar's house were she shared is with some very delicious vegetarian food and Modaks and put hundred rupees in my hand and I immediately thought of going to girgaum chupatti to watch the massive immersion of Ganpati there and my friends were delighted.

We traveled without ticket to charney road station and walked to the chaupati beach.

And it was when I saw the dazzling scenes at chaupati that I suddenly got a feeling and shooting in pain in my entire back side which I couldn't bare and I couldn't even walked and I couldn't even tell my friends what was happening to me because I was the" leader "of the gang.

I couldn't enjoy a moment of the time I spent at chaupati and it was only when I sat in the train to go back to andheri that the pain in my back left me as if by some miracle and never returned.

I kept thinking about the whole evening and my encounter with Lord Ganesha and I realized that the pain in my back was his punishment for me for humiliating him at that pond where I tried to drown him in dirty muck.

Now, every year during Ganpati, I believe that the pain comes back to me and I suffer in the most deadly way for at least and hour during any immersion ceremony of Bappa. Will I ever make a mockary of Bappa? Na re baba Na. Ganpati Bappa Mourya ..