Classroom Internet Exchange
Letters from India

Here are some of the topics covered by our students in Mumbai, India :

Ganpati Festival

Hello!

We have just finished a major festival here and I had the children write down all about it while it was still fresh in their minds.

The 10-day long Ganpati festival is celebrated in a big way in Maharashtra State. Here are some letters from our students.

Bharti Shah

*******************************

Dear Friends,

Ganesh Chathurthi is a holy festival of Hindus. It is a festival of ten days. It comes in August or September every year, according to the Hindu calendar.

This year Ganesh Chaturthi (first day) was on twenty- sixth of August. It is a Hindu festival. It lasts for ten days. People bring idols of Ganesh at home for this 10 days and worship them. When we go for pooja (prayers), poojari (priest) give us prasad (holy offerings). In prasad there is banana, cocunut, sugar, siroh and peanuts.

Vaibhav, Rasesh and Gaurav (all boys)

*******************************

Dear friends

We are going to tell you about the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrated in India. It was first made a public celebration by Lokmania Tilak in Pune to bring the Hindu people together.

The celebration is of ten days. The people bring lord Ganesh's idol in thier houses , buildings, societies and many other places. The hieght of the idol ranges from 2 feets to about 20 feet. The idols are made of clay and painted beautifully. The big idols are kept in mandaps constructed by woods and covered with cloths of various colours. The people also decorate the mandaps.

After the idol of lord Ganesh is kept inside the mandap (it is brought on the first day of the festival), they do Ganpathi pooja two times everyday - the first in the morning and the second in the evening.

The festival end on the tenth day. Some people keep Ganpathi for one day, some five days, some keep for seven days and some for all ten days. On the last day people immerse the Ganpathi idols in the seas . This is known as Visarjan. On this final journey to the sea, people say "Ganpati Bapa Maurya, Pudhcha Varshi Laukariya" (please come early next year).

Your friends, Pranav and Mayur (both boys)

*******************************

Dear friends

When we bring home Ganpati, we say GANPATI BAPA MOREYA. We do pooja at our home. Then we call everyone at our house. On the last day, we take Ganpati to the sea. Everybody say GANPATI BAPA MORYA PUDHCHA VARSI LOUKARYA. Then we do final pooja and immerse Ganpati into the sea. This is called visarjan.

YOUR FRIEND UMANG (boy)

*******************************

Dear Friends,

There is a story about Ganesh's birth. Once, goddess Parvati wanted to take a bath. She wanted a guard outside. So, for that purpose she rubbed her skin and from the fine powder she made a little boy. After that, she put life into it to make it alive. And that was the birth of shree GANESH.

From Keyur (boy)

*******************************

Dear Friends,

We will tell you how Ganesh got his elephant-head.

Once upon time Ganesh's father Bhola-Nath (Shiva) went for tapasya (meditation). Ganesh's mother Parvati was going for bath and she created Ganpati and told him not to let anybody in. Than Ganeshji's father Shiva came after his tapasya. He came to his house but Ganesh did not allow him to come in. Shiva did not know Ganesh was his son. He got angry and cut off his head.

After some time Parvati came out from the bath and she saw that Shiva had cut off Ganpati's head. Parvati started crying and told Shiva that Ganesh was his son. Shiva promised that the next morning he would cut off the head of the first animal he met and put it on Ganesh.

The next morning Shiva went into the jungle. An elephant came charging at him. He cut off its head. That is how Ganesh got the head of an elephant.

your friends Bhavin, Vaibhav, Kunal, Pratik and Amit (all boys)

Teacher's Note : Parvati was distraught with the elephant head. She feared everyone would ridicule Ganesh. Shiva ordained that henceforth before people start any auspicious ceremony or occasion, they will pray to Ganesh first. To this day, for all Hindu ceremonies, Ganesh pooja is performed first before proceeding further.

*******************************

Dear Friends,

Ganpati has two wives Riddhi and Siddhi. His father's name is Shiv and his mother's name is Parvati. His sister's name is Gouri. Ganpati's big brother's name is Kartikeya.

His favourite food is Modak (a type of sweet).

The vehicle of Ganpati is a mouse.

Some people keep Ganpati for 1, 5, 7 or 11 days. Every day, two times they do pooja or arti (prayer). When we go to the pooja we get sugar or modak in Prasad.

We get holiday on first day of Ganpati festival. We get half day holiday in school on fifth day and tenth day because of Gouri and Ganpati visarjan. People take idols of big Ganpati on trucks to go to the sea. Some people keep band and loud speakers. There is loud music and drums. People dance in front of the trucks. Some walk behind the trucks. The roads are very crowded with people. Many roads are closed for Ganpati Visarjan.

Your friends, Jinisha, Disha, Ratna, Meghna (girls) Kunal and Pratik (boys)

Mrs Bharti Shah is Co-ordinator of the Computer Centre.
Copyright � 1998 [Knowledge Ware Interactive]. All rights reserved.
Revised: February 02, 1999.