Hello everyone! Today I will be telling you about something I have not mentioned before. My dad is an avid collector of Lord Ganesha’s idols / sculptures / artworks which we display during Ganesh Chaturthi!
He says he embarked on this spiritual journey in 2001. When he was in Thirupathi, waiting in the queue to have Lord Balaji’s darshan, he says, he heard a voice from a shop selling idols asking him to “take me home”. Even before he realized, he says, one of his seniors bought a Lord Ganesha idol and wished him, “collect more”.
Today, my dad has a collection of 800+ Lord Ganesha’s sculptures and the best thing is that none of the are similar. His aim is to have a variety of Lord Ganesha either in form / material. One can see Lord Ganesha as Pied Piper (based on Pied Piper of Hamelin); Lord Ganesha made of chalk, wax, betelnut, etc; Lord Ganesha on a currency note; Bala Ganesha on Goddess Parvathi’s hip going for a walk; Bala Ganesha in school uniform with a laptop riding a rat to school; Bala Ganesha wrestling, weightlifting and playing kabbadi to keep himself fit!
Around Ganesh Chathurthi we display the idols / sculptures / artworks for around 5 days and I enjoy helping my dad in displaying them all. Every day during the display period, I help my mom in preparing prasdam and other accompaniments. This activity immensely helped me in understanding our traditions and culture. I enjoy explaining the significance of each item on display to all the visitors.
When I grow up, I aspire to build on his collections and spread the richness of our traditions and culture!