Since I last wrote, I've a had a chance for a weekend trip to Matheron, an old hill station which the British developed as a break from city life back when India was part of the British Empire. And I've enjoyed a week end at a fairly secluded but close by beach, Kihim, that is just a 45 minute ferry ride away.

But the biggest story of these last weeks was Ganesh Chaturthi!

With cries of 'Ganapati Bappa Moriya', overpowering drums, yellow and red flags and flowers and banners everywhere - you could be nowhere but Maharashtra state in India for Ganesh Chaturthi!

Its the fourth day of the month of Bhadrapad in the Hindi calendar. The anniversary of the birth day of lord Ganesh - the most beloved of the thousands of Hindu gods. Lord Ganesh, the son of lord Shiva, is known as the remover of obstacles, the destroyer of problems. You may even know his appearance - the seated, multiple armed human body with an elephant head. His head symbolizes great wisdom, while his shrewd eyes and large ears signify that nothing escapes his scrutiny. His four arms show that he is a master of arts and crafts, while the faithful mouse that carries him everywhere shows how he pays attention even to the smallest of forms of life!

At times, Ganesh has also been popular in other cultures, not just within the Hindu religious traditions. Ganesh has made his appearances over the years in the traditions of Iran and Afghanistan, in Tibet, Nepal, Burma, Java, Cambodia and Bali, even in China and Japan.

In India, celebrating Ganesh's birthday first became popular when Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj founded the Maratha empire. You see, India is really a loose collection of different states, most of which where independent empires and princely states prior to the arrival of the British in approximately 1608. During the years of British domination, the Ganesh celebration had to become a private ceremony, held within the confines of private homes. But starting in 1892, Lokmanya Tilak, a famed Indian freedom fighter, used the celebration to help rekindle the pride of the Indian people and to promote their political unity in the struggle for independence from Britain. And so the festival grew as India's quest for freedom grew. And since independence in 1948, the festival has blossomed!

The final night of festivities, when I walked and danced my way down a crowded, narrow street in an old fishing village, I was surrounded by families, each bringing their statue of Ganesh to the sea.

They had saved money, perhaps all year long, in order to buy their Ganesh statue. In a trip to one of Ganesha's temples, they had carefully picked out just the right Ganesh statue. From a foot to twenty feet tall. Made of Styrofoam or perhaps clay. But no matter what, brightly colored! Red. Orange.

And you see, this is a celebration for all - the rich and the poor. And to see the pride of a poor family who had given everything they had to buy a tiny Ganesh in order to bring hope to their coming year was incredibly touching! Much more so than the ostentatious show a rich family might make with their huge Ganesh statue.

Each family then hosted an ongoing open house in their home for up to 10 nights. Friends and neighbors had brought gifts of sweets like coconut, jaggery, modaks and Hibiscus flowers to Ganesh. And they had shared those sweet gifts with everyone else! I had even been the awed recipient of such sweets when I visited a Ganesh temple that is out in a bay of the Arabian Sea. As I sat watching family after family bring gifts to the Ganesh statue sitting humbly on his raised platform in the bay, I too was invited to share in the gifts, enjoying the sweet candies served on a coconut shell.

Then, on that final day of celebration, each family's Ganesh had been brought to life as the priest, dressed in a red dhoti and shawl, chanted the traditional mantras.

Then, late in the afternoon, the family had placed their Ganesh upon a cart and begun the long trek to the sea. They were accompanied by drummers and perhaps a keyboard player repeating raga melodic scale patterns as they all danced in celebration.

Or, those 20 feet tall Ganeshas had their trail to the sea cleared as they rested on the back of a flat bed truck. With a transfer to a barge for the final steps!

Upon their arrival at the sea (or the nearest pond or river), perhaps twelve hours later, Ganesh is immersed in the life giving waters. To fireworks and the emotional chanting of 'Ganapati Bappa Moriya, pudhachya varshi lavkar ya'- Oh victorious lord Ganesh, return early next year!

And I must admit, as the celebration swirled around me and wrapped me in its joy, as family after family invited me to join in their dance, as flower petals and red and yellow powders rained upon my head, I was utterly enthralled! Such unbounding joy! Such a sense of shared celebration! Such hope! I lost myself in it. All obstacles were removed! The world was not a world of terrorists or unrest or political struggles. No, the world was unbridled hope. It was a world of incredible joy.

Ganapati Bappa Moriya!