Return to the temple

Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple at Prabhadevi in Mumbai was first consecrated on November 19, 1801. As I returned for the second time in...

Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple at Prabhadevi in Mumbai was first consecrated on November 19, 1801. As I returned for the second time in two years to pray before a new beginning in my life, I was struck by the contradictions spreading around me. Religion in

India, today, signifies tradition and modernity, spirituality and commercialisation, the search for peace in an environment of policing.

As my taxi pulled up in front of the temple, I was struck by a bold sign on one side of the temple that offered sugar-free prasad to devotees. In a market flooded with fast food chains and processed foods, obesity and diabetes are the overwhelming reality.

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While I tried to focus on my spiritual being, I was mobbed by shopkeepers offering to stow away my slippers in return for a purchase of offerings, costing anything between Rs 10 to Rs 500. As I progressed towards the remarkably orderly mile-long queue into the temple, I saw that from a small police station a few steps away from the temple, policemen poured onto the streets surrounding the temple.

Once inside, as I walked towards the idol of Shree Siddhivinayak, policemen played a more active role trying to control eager devotees. Being in the midst of an ocean of humanity pushing and shoving each other, I struggled to remain in prayer. I finally retreated into a vacant space in the large hall surrounding the idol and felt the connection I had gone to seek.

Walking from the temple towards the shop where my slippers were arranged alongside those of other devotees, I noticed a plethora of little statues, audio cassettes, pendants of Lord Ganesh and other devotional items. After much bargaining I was the proud owner of an oil lamp, fitted with tiny electric bulbs, wired from within, that needed no cotton to be dipped in oil for illumination! Modernity at its best or worst — I’m still not sure.

The temple has an official website that will soon allow devotees to book a pooja online, buy devotional items on the E-shop and view live webcasting of the temple. Now the blessings of Lord Ganesha are just a click away.

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The ultimate contradiction, perhaps, is that I had flown thousands of miles from the Swiss Alps where I live, to the temple to whisper my wishes into the ears of a huge silver mouse, the vehicle of Lord Ganesha. In spite of my life as a globe-trotting Indian, I believe in the powers of Lord Ganesha in his various manifestations, Siddhivinayak being one of the most powerful.