Hey there,
Welcome to another edition of my public blog number
First things first, this week we are having Ganpati Bappa at our home. These 11 days are just magical. Festivities began on the 19th of September. This entire period is filled with joy and lots of energy. The lord Ganesha is the lord of all the Gans, meaning all the categories, and all the skills. Master of knowledge and arts. So as part of this festival gives us an excuse to showcase our skills in arts and hence the decoration. Decorating the place where the Lord himself is going to be seated during the entire festival gives us, the devotees, extreme pleasure.
At least two weeks before the festival, preparation starts for the decoration. It starts with the plan. You need to think about what new element of decoration you will bring to the floor this time. Once you have a certain idea in your head, you start shopping. Prices go up to the roof during this period for all the materials. You need to be very careful in choosing your materials. They have to be perfectly blended with the decoration plan. Once the shopping is done, you start the build. Eventually, during the build you get to know that you need some additional elements that you have not thought of. And again, a short cycle of shopping commences. Once the build of decoration is complete, you start thinking of how you can make it even better. And until the lord himself sits at that location, you continue to decorate as much as possible.
This is the generic process that gets followed.
At my house, we have been praising lord Ganesha ever since I was a child. I truly enjoy this festival because it brings the people together. As a child, I used to be one of the key members of the society’s Ganpati function. I really enjoyed those childhood memories. We celebrate the festival in our home as well. We started decorating our Bappa with different decorations over the course of years. Last time we decorated Bappa as if he was sitting under a tree, and this time I had promised Bappa that I would make a live decoration. I will use water as a live element in the decoration. Maybe a water fountain or waterfall. Eventually, I zeroed down on a fountain. I ordered one underwater motor sometime back. Now, all I wanted was a showerhead. I imagined that I could use the motor and the shower head to create a beautiful small fountain in a water tub.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
During the shopping cycle, one hardware store vendor opened my eyes to that assumption. He mentioned using a showerhead which will only spray the water outwards and won’t contain it in the area of the water tub. You will not achieve the desired result. Boy was I disappointed!! I had no plans now. The same hardware vendor mentioned that I needed to puncture a water pipe to create a fountain. I was not very keen on that. I was also worried whether the water pump might leak electricity into the water creating a hazardous situation. So now I had a lot of thinking to do. 4 days before the festival, I scratched every page of Amazon. Finally, I landed on a particular fountainhead package which I found to be perfect. Even though now that I had a perfect fountainhead, I was wondering if it was going to serve the purpose of containing the water in the water tub. I ordered the Fountainhead package and now the wait started. The package was due to arrive on Sunday. Just 2 days before the festival. If at all anything failed I had no backup plan.
That Sunday arrived and the package arrived with it. I was out on a shopping spree while the package was delivered. I rushed home to try out the package. In the comfort of our washroom, I started my trails. The pipe was not fitting the motor. I was losing my hope. I wondered if I could keep my word to my Bappa. A solution came to my mind. It was as if Bappa whispered the idea to my ear. First I heated the pipe of the fountainhead a bit and forced the expanded end of the pipe onto the motor output. Then I kept the newly created assembly in the freezer to cool it for a while. It worked. The pipe fitted perfectly to the motor.
Now, I tried deciphering from the limited instructions, how the correctly install the heads. I figured out one setting of one of the heads, where the water was not spreading outwards, outside the water tub. It was getting easily contained in the water tub. I was happy beyond words. Now I wanted to be sure, that the water coming out of the water-submerged pump is not having electricity. That It is safe. I bought a tester and tried using it on live-flowing water from the pump. I was too scared of trying but I knew I had to. With a wooden stick in my hand, I used the tester on the water coming out of the motor. It came back negative. I was so happy. I was set. Bappa made it happen. I was going to have a live decoration.
On the 18th of September, all necessary arrangements were made. Different colored lighting was set. For water tub was placed in the hall where our lord sits. The motor was installed and we were ready to go. We made a nice background decoration as well. Made sure enough lights were placed to give energy to the place.
We roamed our veranda with my Bappa in my lap called out Ganapati Bappa Morya and brought the Bappa home on the 19th.
Lights were on, the motor was started and the fountain was live. I shot a video, (a shoddy one honestly) of the decoration, and I felt that my art was accepted by Bappa. Bappa I promise next time, it will be even grander and something unique.
My Bappa will leave us on 28th Sept but he always stays within the hearts of devotees.