Ganpati Festival in Tokyo

Ganpati Festival always excited me, especially after coming to Mumbai. I don’t know why and also can’t figure out any rational behind it…

Somehow I always wanted to see and to be part of Ganpati Puja & Visarjan; and this wish came true in Tokyo. I couldn’t have imagined, even in my distant dreams, that I would get such a chance to be part of Ganpati Puja in Tokyo; when I didn’t get any in Mumbai.

How it started? One day, Tarun-san said that he’ll organise Ganpati puja this year, in his house. I don’t know how serious he was at that time. But his wife, Rakhi insisted that once he committed, he should definitely keep Ganpati. And this was the beginning…

Finding a Ganpati Idol: Now the question was how to get a Ganpati Idol, which should be made of clay / mud. Available options were to get one from India through courier or to search in Tokyo itself. The easiest option would have been to get from India, but the risk associated with it was that courier company wasn’t ready to give any guarantee for safety of idol. So Tarun decided to first search in Tokyo. Later he and I went to a Japanese store selling Indian handicrafts and believe-it-or-not we found the Idol in the 1^st attempt itself. So first milestone was achieved…

Implementation: 11th September 2010, the Ganesh Chaturthi day. Preparations began from morning, house cleaning and decorations were done, stage was set and the wait was only for Ganpati to come.

Around 3:45 pm JST puja started. Ganpati sthapana was done with Panditji reciting Mantra over a VOIP call, from India. Later our own pandits, Hemant & Tarun read few more mantras from Internet and Puja was completed. During Aarti, “Jai Dev Jai Dev” and “Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh Deva” were played on YouTube. Later in the evening, we saw live Puja in Tarun Mumbai’s home, participated in Aarti and recited Ganpati Morya, over a web-conference call.

The delicious Prasad / Bhog were prepared by Manu Bhabhi; it included Modak, Besan Laddu, Gari ke Laddu, etc. For lunch and dinner, we had Poori Sabji, Kachori Damaloo and Chole Poori, prepared by Manu Bhabhi & Tarun; other significant contributors were Hemant, Puneet and Puran.

Night was the time when everyone was tired and feeling sleepy too, but someone needs to be awake since Diya should continue glowing. So we started playing cards to pass time; we also slept but in shifts of few hours each.

Next morning the series of Puja, Aarti and Bhog started again and continued till evening. After doing 5 Aartis and Bhogs in one and a half days, time came to say goodbye to Ganesh Ji, that is, Visarjan.

Tarun’s family, from India, participated in pre-Visarjan Puja through a web conference. Then we did a small Puja on the doorstep of Tarun’s house and also at the canal / river side. Later in midst of slogans of Ganpati Bappa Moriya, Ganpati had to be submerged in water. Two days of festivities came to an end…

An unforgettable weekend passed with Ganpati’s bhajan in the background, doing preparations & Puja, time pass and playing cards. People who participated in this Puja were Tarun, Puneet, Manu Bhabhi, Krunal, DevD, Hemant, Puran and I.

Thanks to Tarun-san for organising the Ganesh Puja at his home…

Ganpati Bappa Moriya,

Pudhchya Varshi Lavkaryaa !!!