Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Band in oblivion

From some days I have been observing 'Ganesh Puja' as a state of celebration with placing a cacophony of localized Band played day and night next door to me. In certain time I have designed my faith in religion and its advertising elements in a way to satisfy my logical thrust. I tried to relinquish the disturbance of redundant music played across the place but at last I lost to my idea of patience. Then I tried to look closely over this festival and they way it is organized among people. People gave identity to this festival.
First of all this festival was having a political motive to unite people at the time of fighting against British 'Raj' when it was started by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. This was an unique approach started and appriciated by then freedom fighters against the another approach proposed by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ( Mahatma Gandhi ) , The Salt Movement ( Namak Andolan and Dandi Yatra ). Both movement had deep impact over people of India at that time and both have mobilised people of different sect , with different cast and creed with the one aim of freedom from Raj.
Although Salt march was more globalised in terms of understanding, emotions and sensibility in comparision to Ganesh Puja, where it was more regional in terms of its understanding in terms of culture, language and identity.
Moreover, Ganesh Puja was the festival of Hindus where 'Salt March' was movement of a common man.

Now we are living in a free nation at least in some senses. We had recovered our freedom from the most aggressive race, which had discovered many nations, which had provided distinct learning processes, a race which is superior in many senses; from them we have snatched our freedom. We have sense of pride for our freedom. Pride which could be uncertain for certain masses, pride which could be politicized and religious in nature but modern India was founded on the grounds of political and social anarchy and conflicts of religious boundaries. In fact having such diversified history sometimes we are unite belligerently on chauvinistic and religious issues or some moments of celebrations like these festivals. But chronologically these moods of festival have been changed with respect to human sprit of celebration. Festivals have become the mode to target ‘Junta’ for money making on priority. There is a significant change happened in the modus operandi of organizing and carrying the festivals of these days. People used to drink liquor and other narcotic drugs which left them in pseudo-transcendental mood.

Indeed, the small community organizes their own Puja on such occasions and play musical bands with an unusual cacophony. And such strident and unwanted noise going to distract people always from such spiritual occasion of celebrations.

The mode of celebration has been politicized and contaminated with a mob-psychology where people gather just to mark there presence and hubris of pride that this time they have contributed from their side.

Ganesh Puja and Durga Puja where in the end of this festivals/puja; the statues of their idol have to be drowned in River or pond left some reasonable and hazardous environmental impact. I think, this has more discussion value rather than ‘Ram Sethu controversy points’ or any doomed subject discussion.

Although Ganesh Festival has been over and all Ganesh idols have sink in local ponds or adjoined Arabian Sea. But the concern over the integrity of such festivals in contemporary times where people are subjugated with fear of terror attacks on such occasion and leading the meaning of such festivals have been rises over the period of time. I’m not saying that we should not celebrate such festivals but society should take steps to prevent this cultural identity before it got wither away.