Almost Famous

It seemed like half the world’s population was gathered on Chowpatty Beach a couple Sundays ago for the final day of the Ganpati festival. After 10 days of being worshipped, Ganesh statues of all shapes and sizes were brought to be sent out to sea. For 10 days in September, Mumbai nearly comes to a halt while the city celebrates its affection for the elephant god, Ganesh. The festival starts with the bringing of Ganesh into the home or in the public worship spot, where for 1.5, 3, 7, or 10 days the god is offered fruits and sweets of gratitude. En route to immersion, huge groups of family and friends carry the Ganesh—or sometimes it is so big it needs to be loaded onto a truck—towards the sea, sometimes for miles. With red-painted bodies, the celebrants dance in the streets, singing and banging on drums the whole way.
I was accompanied for the 10th-day immersion—the biggest of all—by Dilip Jani, a Rotarian, and Karim, the other Ambassadorial Scholar in Mumbai. Karim, being blonde and a tall German, and I were not conspicuous among the crowd. At one point, a television crew halted us on the street to be interviewed for the national station. Later, I got text messages from various friends in Mumbai, and even one from as far as Bangalore, saying they saw me on T.V. I really am almost famous!