Tuesday was the immersion of Lord Ganesha from Mabel’s house. Traditionally I’ve been bidding Ganesha, Goodbye over the last 10 years or so, and it seems to bring me luck. Whilst I’m neither religious or superstitious, why take a chance.
Prem and Mabel usually keep the statue or “Murthi” as its called in Hindi, at her home for 5 – 6 days depending on the auspicious day for the immersion. During this period, she invites family and friends for lunches and dinners. This way the Rajagopalans ensure that they gets to host a meal for everyone they know at least once a year. Great idea. Something I should learn to do.
My turn to be invited with my family was last Thursday. That was Family Day and everyone in the family turned up. The food supervised by Mabel was awesome. Mabel manages to serve great food, although she can’t cook to save her life. What matters is the end result and for that she gets a 10 for food. Don might give it a 4.5, but that’s because he’s picky (or what we call “Thingy”) except when it comes to his 2 kids. The vegetarian fare consisted of more than 15 dishes and would make a 5 star buffet feel inadequate.
My 2nd invite was on Sunday evening when Mabel had invited my friends and their family. Yes. Even my friends don’t escape the Rajagopalan radar. Why spoil a winning formula. And so the fare on the menu was a replica of the first. The awesome part is that it was just as tasty and equally enjoyable. Kowshik was at his absolute best and let out a few secrets that his wife Sunita had no idea about. Dancing bars, wild nights, cop chases, … Not sure how badly he got beaten up. Luckily for me, Ivy wasn’t around.
And my 3rd visit was on Tuesday. To bid Adieu. It was a popular day for immersion and so the traffic that’s usually bad was worse than normal. And I drove directly to the venue of the immersion, at Shivaji Park. There were no cars parked, but being late, I just parked at what seemed to be safe, and ran to the beach.
Prem, Mabel, Simbu, Chintu (their 2 kids), and Reia (my daughter) were already there. Waiting. As soon as I came, they started the puja. Completed in 2 minutes. Did a Darshan (a nod and a small prayer to the murthi) and waved goodbye, as the local who was going to do the immersion made Prem carry the murthi, till the water before taking it from him. That’s probably the most that Prem has walked with a weight in his hand in the last few years.
All of us went and had a traditional lunch as a bistro nearby. After lunch, I went to pickup my car, and horror of horrors, it was missing. Honestly, I had expected it to be, but took the chance since getting a proper parking might have taken another 15 minutes or so. I went to the Mahim police station a couple of kilometers away to get it back. Was told, that they were not towing cars today. May have been parked nearby.
Went back, and hailed a police van. A very helpful cop, told me the likely places they may have parked it in. In the very first place pointed by him, found my car, beautifully parked. Happy that I got it. Happier that I saved the Rs. 500 fine and towing charges. Thank you Ganesha. Or as we say, “Ganpati Bappa Moriya Pudhchya Varshi Lavkar yaa” - a Marathi verse chanted whilst bidding Adieu meaning, “Oh Ganpati My Lord, return soon next year”.
Prem and Mabel usually keep the statue or “Murthi” as its called in Hindi, at her home for 5 – 6 days depending on the auspicious day for the immersion. During this period, she invites family and friends for lunches and dinners. This way the Rajagopalans ensure that they gets to host a meal for everyone they know at least once a year. Great idea. Something I should learn to do.
My turn to be invited with my family was last Thursday. That was Family Day and everyone in the family turned up. The food supervised by Mabel was awesome. Mabel manages to serve great food, although she can’t cook to save her life. What matters is the end result and for that she gets a 10 for food. Don might give it a 4.5, but that’s because he’s picky (or what we call “Thingy”) except when it comes to his 2 kids. The vegetarian fare consisted of more than 15 dishes and would make a 5 star buffet feel inadequate.
My 2nd invite was on Sunday evening when Mabel had invited my friends and their family. Yes. Even my friends don’t escape the Rajagopalan radar. Why spoil a winning formula. And so the fare on the menu was a replica of the first. The awesome part is that it was just as tasty and equally enjoyable. Kowshik was at his absolute best and let out a few secrets that his wife Sunita had no idea about. Dancing bars, wild nights, cop chases, … Not sure how badly he got beaten up. Luckily for me, Ivy wasn’t around.
And my 3rd visit was on Tuesday. To bid Adieu. It was a popular day for immersion and so the traffic that’s usually bad was worse than normal. And I drove directly to the venue of the immersion, at Shivaji Park. There were no cars parked, but being late, I just parked at what seemed to be safe, and ran to the beach.
Prem, Mabel, Simbu, Chintu (their 2 kids), and Reia (my daughter) were already there. Waiting. As soon as I came, they started the puja. Completed in 2 minutes. Did a Darshan (a nod and a small prayer to the murthi) and waved goodbye, as the local who was going to do the immersion made Prem carry the murthi, till the water before taking it from him. That’s probably the most that Prem has walked with a weight in his hand in the last few years.
All of us went and had a traditional lunch as a bistro nearby. After lunch, I went to pickup my car, and horror of horrors, it was missing. Honestly, I had expected it to be, but took the chance since getting a proper parking might have taken another 15 minutes or so. I went to the Mahim police station a couple of kilometers away to get it back. Was told, that they were not towing cars today. May have been parked nearby.
Went back, and hailed a police van. A very helpful cop, told me the likely places they may have parked it in. In the very first place pointed by him, found my car, beautifully parked. Happy that I got it. Happier that I saved the Rs. 500 fine and towing charges. Thank you Ganesha. Or as we say, “Ganpati Bappa Moriya Pudhchya Varshi Lavkar yaa” - a Marathi verse chanted whilst bidding Adieu meaning, “Oh Ganpati My Lord, return soon next year”.
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