Ganpati Chaturthi

Last weekend marked the end of a big celebration here in Pune called Ganpati Chaturthi. During this two week festival, many families in Maharashtra bring home statutes of Ganpati (Lord Ganesh). Ganpati stays in the home for anywhere between one-day and two-weeks, and during that time, is carefully decorated with flowers and colors. Here at AIC, we had our very own Ganesh, which we decorated over the course of the holiday. At the end of the holiday we took our Ganpati to the river for a traditional visurgen. During visurgen, a big procession follows the Ganpati to the river, complete with music, dancing, and colors. Then, once at the river, the Ganpati is submerged, taking away all the problems and troubles of his generous hosts.

It is such a festive time here in Pune! There have been fireworks nearly every night. All over the city, there are beautifully decorated Ganpatis and many, many traffic-stopping processions!

This weekend, we said good bye to our own Ganpati. The kids had a great time, and after the visurgen we all enjoyed mithai, traditional Indian sweets.