Farewell

 In certain communities from Maharashtra, Lord Ganesha is bid farewell a day and half later after his auspicious arrival. Mostly, this practice reigns supreme in the Konkan area where it rains a lot, and where the Ganesh idol is mostly made of natural clay sourced from the river banks. Hence it is easily bio-degradable.

The practice makes huge sense, too. Rains ARE a terrible threat. Look at what is up, literally up, too, in the Devbhoomi, Uttarakhand. Cloudbursts, glacial lake bursts, landslides are these days common there. The Ganesh festival is hence celebrated minimally there abouts, if at all Well, the Lord is everywhere; the festivals in his name differ, as per the geography, the climate and, oh, yes, the historical realities.

Beyond that, conventions, too, matter, I suppose. In Hyderabad, in the Telangana region, it does not actually rain much. Yet the practice there is to literally carry up the palm the wet idol of the Lord!

Actually, bidding farewell can mean two possibilities. it can either mean 'do well' (fare well in the examination) or ' travel well'. Actually, neither matters for the Lord. He always does well. As for farewell, when does he really go away? Despite the convention, he does not really go away. He re-turns back to our hearts, to manifest often!

Pratima@Farewells are tough! May be, the Lord needs that respite though. Imagine being near to millions whose hearts are harder than the biggest boulder!