Ganesha Comes To India

Sitting at Mt.Kailash all day is just so boring                                                       
He knew he had to get away from his house                                                   
So, the pot-bellied God decided to go touring                                                    
He packed his bags and whistled for his mouse

Deciding where to go was a bit of a bother
                                                   
He looked at the globe and tried to pick a spot
                                              
Into the room entered his well-travelled brother
                                              
He took a pen and on the globe put a random dot

The dot landed on a country in Asia
                                                                  
A land steeped in history and with lots of fame
                                              
‘This is the perfect time to visit it’ interjected Kartikeya
                                     
‘They are even celebrating a festival in your name’

Elated, Ganesha clambered on his steed
                                                         
And onto Bharat the elephant god descended
                                                
He made his way to the country at top speed
                                                
But, little did he know this trip would leave him sad and offended

Pandals were everywhere, left and right
                                                          
The city was celebrating with a lot of fanfare
                                                
Ganesha made his way to one glowing with a big blue light
                           
But not before checking into ‘Mumbai’ on Foursquare

The line was long and Ganesha was worried
                                          
Whether he would be able to enter
                                                              
But, quick as a whistle, a youth to him scurried
                                                 
‘VIP Pass chahiye kya sir?’

Ganesha thought aren’t all equal before the Lord?
                                      
Then what is all this business of VIP
                                                              
But, the ingenuity of these Indians one must laud
                                    
Where equality is directly proportional to the rupee

He walked in and saw himself with a crown and a shawl at his waist
             
Ten feet high and bedecked with silver and gold
                                         
The opulence disturbed him and he thought it a waste
                                   
When just outside poor children shivered in the cold

He saw bundles of notes being placed at his feet
                                       
For people wanted their problems to be solved by divine intervention
         
He asked a donor ‘Why waste this money when people in this country have no food to
eat’
                                                                                                   
‘No clothes , no jobs or education?’

The donor seem puzzled and didn’t even reply
                                            
He spat on the ground and let out a curse
                                                   
Isn’t it just like us Indians to not even try
                                                          
To look at the God who is right next to us

Ganesha went to another pandal and yet one more
                                       
But found nothing new as they were all the same
                                     
With pictures of local ‘netas’ at their door
                                                          
And instead of delight, Ganesha felt shame

Ganesha sighed and went on his way
                                                          
Telling his mouse to return to Swarga fast
                                                     
But, the next day was Visarjan Day
                                                                   
And what he would see would leave him aghast

He saw in the processions, people bicker and shout
                                    
He saw them standing in front of his idol drinking
                                         
He heard the Honey Singh songs being played aloud
                                     
And the louts teasing women without even thinking

The devotees sang the final Aarti with one big roar
                                      
They threw the idols into the sea and gulaal into the air
                              
The next day ‘God’ would wash back onto the shore
                                    
Cracked and broken, nobody would care

And lo and behold Ganesha wept
                                                                   
For he could not stand this debauchery
                                                      
And into his mind melancholy crept
                                                                  
For he did not see a festival, but a mockery

But, then he saw a little girl carrying a clay Ganapati figure
                             
He smiled at her sensitivity and the way she thought
                                      
She placed it in the water and on the beach, she did linger
                        
Just to check if it would dissolve fully or not

When they could see the idol no more
                                                          
The girl and her family bowed to the ocean
                                                   
And Ganesha felt happy to the core
                                                                   
For him, this simplicity was true devotion

He cared not for the lakhs of rupees
                                                               
Or the loudspeakers or the gold shawls with intricate art
                             
His happiness came from those devotees
                                                          
Who kept Ganesha in their heart

 
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