Ganesh Pooja
Updated: Mar 12
Jai Ganesh, jai Ganesh, jai Ganesh deva
In her mind at least, the music anticipates, and so
She clicks her tongue to the roof of her mouth,
Intoning, imitating, the vivacious beats of the tabla
The wavelengths of her mind humming along to the palpitations
Within the temple doors
And just as Kashibai did, she opens the door
Eyes ostentatious, plumes of saffron dancing in
Smoky air; her breath is deep, inhaling
The granular fragrance of the temple
As sticks of agarbatti burn in their clay pots
She watches the capricious child, a lone dreamer
Amidst the throngs, waddle and wade across fields of rangoli
As his mother chases after him, curds-soaked hands gleefully
Twirling around him, unfurling like the petals of an budding lotus
Delighting the wandering eye
As the temple bells chime, as the child is scooped up by his mother with a finality,
And now looks around bewildered and lost, she knows it’s time, feels it in her heart--
The swell of one’s soul and spirit as the shenai’s trumpets blows;
Heaven and earth and beyond, united across the skies and stars...
The silken curtains shrouding Ganesh’s clay temple, unmasked
Jai Ganesh, jai Ganesh, jai Ganesh deva
oh! envisage-- pots of rosewater, milk, cream poured over divine clay
Meandering liquids intertwined with the crescent moon
Dovish and mechanical, practiced and preached
Gold and silk and decades of blooms
Garlands of tulsi and chrysanthemum