Ganesh Chaturthi

I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but I always consider that the Ganesh Chaturthi holiday marks the start of the holiday season in south India, and I see that this festival is particularly celebrated in the south.

When I moved to India in 2003, my first port of call was Hyderabad, and I stayed in Secunderabad for a week from 5th September that year. Just a few metres away from the house I was staying in there was a Ganesha shrine and I think every night whilst I was there, there was relentless pounding on drums.

The Ganesh festival always seems a long while in coming and is heralded, often a couple of months in advance, by gangs of children knocking on the door for money to buy an idol. Being a Christian - albeit not a very good Christian and certainly not a regular church-goer - I'm never too comfortable about giving money for idols. Thankfully, I'm at work for a good part of the week and so I tend to avoid the dilemma of eager children at the door with their hands outstretched. But I do give money to them and think to myself that, fair enough, that's their culture and religion. It may not be the religion that I follow but I have no right to question their faith and besides which, I am still a guest in their country. In this land of contradictions, India is good at teaching religious tolerance - and also exhibiting at times, extreme religious intolerance.

But I do remember wondering, five years ago, with a pillow shoved down tight over my ears as the Hyderabadi drum-beaters went about their work, why the bloody hell had I chosen to settle in such a noisy country? (Incidentally, the Christians got their own back at Christmas by carol-singing round the streets at gone midnight).

Today, the streets of Bangalore are deserted: no school buses and barely any office workers. Add into that mix that when I left this morning it was raining cats and dogs and Thor was throwing down lightning bolts and shaking the clouds with his roars, and you'll understand that Bangalore was again really quite pleasant to drive through. Most of the people in the office are off celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi but apart from a few fireworks in the early hours of the morning, it's pretty peaceful; certainly none of the drum-banging that was taking place in Hyderabad. Speaking to people here, it seems the further north you go - certainly until you reach Mumbai, the noisier it gets.

I'm going to miss my fifth anniversary in India because I'm flying to the UK tomorrow; my fourth (and final) trip there this year. But by the time I come back, all the Ganesh idols will have been immersed, we'll have another few weeks of monsoon to contend with and the majority Hindu population will be gearing up for Dussera and Diwali (and probably other holidays in between).

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all.

Originally published on Blogger on 4th September 2008.