Lord Ganesha, Welcomed by All

‘We value Ganesh as remover of all obstacles’

I come from a religious family. The big joint family in which I grew up used to celebrate all pujas and religious festivals. We were taught in our childhood to remember Ganesh before beginning any work and that habit continues even till now.

As a child, I used to wonder how Ganesh used his tusk as a pen and ocean as ink to write holy scriptures while Maharshi Vyas dictated. His fondness for ladoos and his transport, the mouse, always fascinated me as a child.

Now as we have grown up and realise the challenges and difficulties in life all around, we value Ganesh more as remover of all obstacles — nirvighnam kurume deva, sarva kareshu sarvada.

Few Gods have so much deeper meanings and sacred symbols than Ganesh and the transplant of head with a baby elephant is most fascinating. — Anjani Kumar, Director General of Police of Telangana.

‘To me, Ganesha represents  success & protection’

My husband, Megha Krishna Reddy, gave me the embellished Lord Ganesha clutch and it is priceless. I consider Ganesha to be more than just a god. He represents success and protection to me. I always make sure to pack it and keep it by my bedside when I travel. The staff and managers value it as a priceless work of art when they see it by the bedside. They share tales with me when I get back to the hotel. — Sudha Reddy, director of MEIL Group, and philanthropist.

‘His presence energises us’

We cherish the memory of Lord Ganesha visiting our home for 10 nights. His presence brings us blessings such as good health, family, wisdom, unity, and diversity. We have welcomed Lord Ganesha into our home since childhood, worshipping him both during the day and at night, and preparing various delicacies as prasadam every day. His divine presence energises us for unity and bestows special blessings.

During this time, our entire family, including our grandfather, would take two cars on outings to various locations to pay our respects to Lord Ganesha. It was a time of celebration and unity that brought us all together. — Viren Shah, Director Scoops & Cream Stone ice creams company.

‘We look forward to this festival’

I have very fond memories of the Ganesha festival, which we used to celebrate when I was a child. Every year, there was a lot of excitement, beginning with the purchase of the idol and continuing with the erecting of tents, arranging the music system, and other logistical requirements. We used to get up early in the morning to visit the Ganesha pandal. We always made an effort to make our Ganesha idol stand out from the crowd. We had friends from various religions. In fact, one of my close friends, Syed, used to look after the Ganesha tent at night and provide logistical support. We would immerse the idol with a heavy heart, and wait for the Lord to visit us next year again. — Rahul Hegde, DCP Traffic, Hyderabad.

‘Lord Ganesha is universal’

Since we were born and raised in Mumbai, we have been going to mandals and celebrating with locals, regardless of the religions we believe... Lord Ganesha is universal. — Abbas Alibhai Burmawalla, filmmaker.

‘First God I prayed to’

To me Ganesha has always felt like the Children’s God. He is the first God I was taught to pray to, to place my books in front of, and he reminds me of my grandmother, who taught me to pray to Ganesha for good grades. — Tejaswini Chowdary, entrepreneur