Gane­sha– Plump and lov­able, this ele­phant faced God is a potent uni­fy­ing force. He is wor­shipped before all other deities. He is a patron of arts and sci­ences, remover of obsta­cles and a boun­ti­ful source of things both earthly and divine.

Happy Gane­sha Habba (fes­ti­val) to one and all!! It was a busy day here, with lots of cook­ing, pray­ing, eat­ing and vis­it­ing the tem­ple. I got to start this gane­sha sculp­ture on mon­day (that gave me just two days to fin­ish it) — I made my own clay like dough with ceramic pow­der, chalk pow­der and elmers glue. It took me two hours to form the gane­sha with my fin­gers. And then I let it dry. And prayed that it would dry fast.

After it dried (it took about a day), it ended up need­ing 3 coats of paint– and I was paint­ing it till the last minute. But every­thing worked out fine in the end, and in time and thats whats impor­tant. If it weren’t for the last minute noth­ing would get done right?

This year I wanted to make a col­or­ful gane­sha (in com­par­i­son to this gane­sha that I made last year– which had a clay/terracotta fin­ish) and it was a noble thought, but it took much more time than I had antic­i­pated. Need to learn to plan better.

Am leav­ing you with this photo of our puja,