Ganapati is gone but I need to do this post as a final goodbye till next year. After many many years in Maharashtra this year finally I caught up with Ganapati in as Maharshtrian a way as I could.
If you want to experience the true flavour of a festival, any festival, you should head for the old city area. And so it was to the city we headed when Chaturthi came around. Since the SIL brings home Ganapati we had tons of shopping on the agenda. Yes it's dreadfully crowded, yes it's noisy, yes you have to walk and walk, yes it's hot and sunny and sweaty and utterly chaotic. But amidst the chaos you'll find some of the best bargains ever. The streets are crammed with merchandise as colourful as the wares of Sarojini Naidu's bangle sellers. A true treat for the eyes. And you have the added pleasure of haggling shamelessly till you're blue in the face. Can it get any better?
Take a look...
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| All things glittery... |
This is what we started working with.
And this is what Ganapati's seat finally turned out. We were pretty proud of our handiwork. Check out that toran - done entirely by the SIL out of handmade paper even while nursing a mother of all colds.
And now for the modaks. We saw so many kinds ....
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| Check out this mega-modak.. |
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| Pick your size here! |
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| ...and your colour |
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| The hottest favourites 'ukadiche modaks' The ones I tried to make a failed pretty convincingly at. |
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| Look at those wads of notes. I do hope they're put to good use. |
