Lord Ganesh’s mother, Goddess Parvati, carved an idol of a boy out of turmeric powder and breathed life to it, which her husband, Lord Shiva, did not know about. When Ganesha refused Lord Shiva entry into his house (because Goddess Parvati was bathing inside), Shiva beheaded Ganesha’s head in anger. According to myth, an elephant was the first animal that Lord Brahma found when he went to search for an animal to replace Ganesha’s head.

If you looked at Ganesha, you would realise that he has a broken tusk. It is said that Ganesha wrote the Mahabharata. As the myth says, when Ganesha was writing the Mahabharata, the peacock feather got broken. So, to stick to the promise of writing continuously, Ganesha broke his tusk and wrote with it. Some others also believe that Lord Parashurama cut off one of Ganesha’s tusks because he didn’t allow him to enter the Shiva abode and meet Lord Shiva, who was busy praying.

I remember my experience for the puja. The day before, my mother and her friends were setting up a miniature temple in our living room. The next day, when I came back from school, I saw my uncle, my friend, my friend’s mother, my mother, my brother and his friends. I quickly took a shower and sat down. Sometime later, my mum called us to go pray. She gave us flower petals and made us throw it on the Ganesh statue, and we also did our prayers.

After a few days passed by, my father took the god’s statue, and carried it in his car to the beach, where they immersed the statue in the ocean to mark the end of the festival.

Ganesha is one of the most important gods. Having an elephant head makes him very special, because he has all the wisdom, loyalty and compassion of an elephant, and his large ears means he can clearly hear the needs of his people.

------ Om Shri Ganeshaya Namah ------