Anant Chaturdashi--
The last Ganpati Immersion Day
I am bracing for the evening and dreading it .
Why did I rent a place on a main road where from all the Ganpatis from Mumbai [ it seems like that ] pass.
Well I don't mind the procession per say if it is organized like the one in Pune , where tradition is paramount .We Mumbaikars may smirk at them, but have to accept ,the discipline followed .
In Mumbai, the immersion is accompanied by shrill cacophonous noise . There is an unholy competition among each immersion procession group as to who is the loudest . Wonder [if I cannot tolerate this noise for a few hours ] how this Elephant God, having the biggest ears, does it for the entire duration of his stay.
And then he is ready to accede to their request, to come again the next year.
Last year , it was the lungi dance , the most horrific lyrics set to the most horrific tune by some insane composer and surely sung by people having nothing to do with playback singing.
Mind well the Ganpati's were from different Mandals [ area-wise groups of people coming together ] ,the decor of each processions differed , the dancers [ should I qualify them ] were different- but all had a common theme song- Lungi Dance .
It was akin to the entire nation singing our National Anthem in tandem .
Seems like Lungi dance was the National anthem of the Ganpati processions last year .
Which song would it be this year !!.- am sure it would be an equally horrific, obnoxious ,inhuman moronic lyrical outburst ,set to tune by some insane composer and which has nothing to either do anything with music or more prudently the Ganpati festival.
Every year ,I think of going away to some quiet place during this day and of course the 10 days of the Navratri festival ,but I am stuck , due to extraneous circumstances beyond my control.
I am waiting with bated breath for the evening
Oh how I dread this day
Dilip Apte
September 8 , 2014
The last Ganpati Immersion Day
I am bracing for the evening and dreading it .
Why did I rent a place on a main road where from all the Ganpatis from Mumbai [ it seems like that ] pass.
Well I don't mind the procession per say if it is organized like the one in Pune , where tradition is paramount .We Mumbaikars may smirk at them, but have to accept ,the discipline followed .
In Mumbai, the immersion is accompanied by shrill cacophonous noise . There is an unholy competition among each immersion procession group as to who is the loudest . Wonder [if I cannot tolerate this noise for a few hours ] how this Elephant God, having the biggest ears, does it for the entire duration of his stay.
And then he is ready to accede to their request, to come again the next year.
Last year , it was the lungi dance , the most horrific lyrics set to the most horrific tune by some insane composer and surely sung by people having nothing to do with playback singing.
Mind well the Ganpati's were from different Mandals [ area-wise groups of people coming together ] ,the decor of each processions differed , the dancers [ should I qualify them ] were different- but all had a common theme song- Lungi Dance .
It was akin to the entire nation singing our National Anthem in tandem .
Seems like Lungi dance was the National anthem of the Ganpati processions last year .
Which song would it be this year !!.- am sure it would be an equally horrific, obnoxious ,inhuman moronic lyrical outburst ,set to tune by some insane composer and which has nothing to either do anything with music or more prudently the Ganpati festival.
Every year ,I think of going away to some quiet place during this day and of course the 10 days of the Navratri festival ,but I am stuck , due to extraneous circumstances beyond my control.
I am waiting with bated breath for the evening
Oh how I dread this day
Dilip Apte
September 8 , 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment