Goodbye Ganesh

All set for the final journey

Procession begins

Wednesday, 22nd September was the final day of  the 2010 Ganesh Chaturthi, or Ganpati Festival. It was also the day which Candolim chose to say goodbye to its Ganesh statue which had been on show and attracting devotees  since the festival began on September 11th. First I had been told that Lord Ganesh would begin his journey to the sea at 3pm, then someone else told me 2pm.I arrived at the market, which had been home to Lord Ganesh for the past 10 days at 2:30 to find him already in situ on his chariot, a truck decorated with coloured fabric, flower garlands and fairy lights. Just a few people were gathered around and it looked as though the final journey to the sea would be a low key affair.

Ladies leading the dance

Remarkably, at exactly 3pm the little convoy moved away towards Sinquerim. The truck carrying Ganesh was travelling in reverse, so that Ganesh was looking out ahead. Attached to it by an umbilical cord of electric cable, was a smaller vehicle, going forwards, and carrying a generator to power the lights and speakers (essential for any festival in India) The procession rolled slowly, escorted by a group of men dressed in white with saffron headbands, dancing and making music with cymbals and a drum. As it moved along more people joined, and more saffron headbands were given out. Women and children began to join, at first watching from the roadside then later leading the dancers at the head of the procession.The party atmosphere increased, traffic was halted and fireworks set off in the street.

Crowds moving towards the ocean

By 4:30 we had reached the road to the beach, but then everything stopped. It was time for the auction. Announcements were made and the sacred offerings of fruit and flowers were held up and sold to the highest bidder.Take up seemed quite slow and the crowd became restless, it was over an hour before we were moving again, this time towards the ocean. Most of the crowd now moved quickly ahead to watch the sunset from the beach (close to the wreck of the River Princess)

Dvotees offer a final prayere

Goodbye Ganesh

More fireworks heralded the arrival of Lord ganesh. Just before sunset he was carried from the truck and laid on the beach while devotees bowed down and bid a final farewell. Then as the sun dipped into the Arabian Sea, the statue was carried into the waves,  until those carrying it were shoulder deep. in a final wave Ganesh disappeared from view to dissolve into the water like thousands of others.

A marigold garland is all that remains...

 The immersion was closely supervised by the Candolim lifeguard sas during the monsoon waves are fierce and undercurrents deadly. I was told that a few years ago someone had been drowned during the event, and this had led the community to break with the tradition of carrying out the immersion of Ganesh after dark when the sea is still more dangerous.Calangute continues to carry out the immersion at night, with the procession beginning at around 6pm and ending in the early hours of the following day.