Ganpati ji ko pata tha ki multitasking ka zamana aayega

There were three Indian festivals the day I was born - Kevdatrij, Samvatsari and Ganesh Chaturthi. Kevdatrij is like the Hindi-movies-favourite Karva Chauth; women fast for their husbands long life. While Samvatsari is a Jain festival(my mom is a Jain), Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most important festivals for Hindus. (dad is a nagar brahmin- hindu) My family was very happy - that I came on a day coinciding with festivals from both mom and dad side. Do I consider myself a Jain or a Hindu? I dont really know, but I am happy I share my birthday with Ganpati ji :P

While the actual birthday was on 12th of September, these festivals fell on the same day as per the Hindu calendar that day. We call it 'tithi'. Now these keep changing every year. While these were on the same day the day I was born, mostly they come on different days every year. As a result, I have some older members of my family wishing me 'happy birthday' on three different days every year.

This year in Mumabi I saw the Ganpati festival, which made me feel happy as I had a long celebration of my birthday(s) too! I celebrated the original one at an exhibition, as I was a representative there , so I cut a cake at the stall and cut one at work earlier this week (as before that one or the other person was on a leave) Friends got a cake at midnight on the birthday. 

There is this really amazing story of Ganpati when He was a kid. As He grew up, his folks asked him what He wanted to be. He got confused, so they placed a bajot (table) in front of him with all different objects like the feather(was used to write in olden days), sword, bow & arrow, etc. I am assuming they also kept food like ladoos and moduk maybe, as they are associated with Him so much :) Now Ganpati ji just couldnt pick up one thing. After sometime He simply picked up the entire bajot. This symbolizes that He was simply interested in everything, of course you all got it, still just explaining for the sake of it. Do I share that trait with the cool God I share my birthday with? Oh yes, on my crazy days when my mind is restless and keeps wandering, this is the one story I remember and try focusing my restless energies in a positive direction and try hard to do one thing at a time. But one has to multitask these days.

In Hinduism, Ganpati ji is like the number one God. He is offered the prayers before any other God when starting a pooja. He has two wives - Riddhi (wealth) and Siddhi (attainment/success) It is believed He comes with these two during a pooja and blesses the family.

Hope this new year helps me achieve my targets for all different things I want to do. Happy Ganpati everyone :)

P.S: A striking dissimilarity between me and Lord Ganpati; I could eat all moduks and ladoos but never share those with a mouse or play with it. I just scream whenever it comes near me.