Morya

Every procession I see has particular order of groups. First is the group of hip thrusting youth in their school going ages and out of school by now, made delirious by the cheap alcohol and preceded expectedly by a stench of pan masala, cigarette smoke and smell of alcohol. They are followed by arrangement of giant speakers and sound system which are at par with any rock concert sound system. This has been arranged by the contribution by the families of all those kids who go to low income school around the area and a hefty contribution by a local hitman turned corporater. And in the end is the diety, the idol of ganesha in whose name this all has been done and who, ironically, happens to be god of knowledge in Hindu mythology. He must be crying out loud in heavens, while seeing his tears getting dissolved in the muddy waters during Visarjan. The idol is surrounded by a motley group having no work and luckily not a part of the group right in front, for the time being atleast.

I have no issues with anything like this. I am just scared, far too scared these days. I dread the day when some of my kids would become the part of the crowd in front. I am far too scared to even imagine such scenario. I fear the day when they would give up and become the prey of what they are trying to fight along with me and many others. I just pray to Ganesha , that he might just choose all of them and bless them every year with enormous amount of self control and grit. And against all odds I hope that one day many of them would write an article on the same lines expressing concern for their kids and students. I just hope.

Ganpati Bappa Morya, Mangalmurti Morya.