Every September the Thakurs get ready for their very, very, important house guest and both joy and piety fills the home.
Sangita Thakur can often be spied in the locality of Zirad village, in Alibag taluka, zealously tending to her vegetable garden, on a large plot of ancestral land, followed by a rotating troop of cats she has befriended.
She is the reason why the large Thakur family brings Lord Ganpati home every year.
Eight or 10 years ago, Sangita's son, who is now a grown young man, was stricken with appendicitis and his infected appendix ruptured. The family was sick with worry, fearing the worst.
At that time, Divya Thakur, who is Sangita's sister-in-law -- both women are married to farmer-landowner brothers Anil and Dinesh Thakur -- says she and the family took a "mannat" (took a vow) that when the boy recovered, they would invite Lord Ganesh home and continue that tradition every year as is customary and that's how it has been ever since, "because once you bring Ganpati home one year you have to bring him back every year."
Every September the Thakurs get ready for their very, very, important house guest and both joy and piety fills the home.
They customarily procure a two-and-a-half-foot tall murti from the nearby Vandana stores, in Zirad market, for which they paid Rs 15,000 this year.
The main drawing room of their quaint village house, that has a pen for their enormous bulls at the side, was vacated of its furniture and Ganeshji got pride of place on a high table adorned with bright lights, a satin tablecloth, coloured wood panel decorations, flowers and His own private stereo belting out happy tunes.
The women of the family cheerfully toiled around the clock, serving him Dahi Poha (called gopalkala), Kheer-Puri, vaal and alu ki sabzi (field beans with potatoes), super-large kadak laddoos, steamed modaks, suji-besan modaks, fruit, cucumbers from their fields and more.
Divya was unable to exactly estimate how many people had dropped by over the last 48 hours. "More than 150." Some 150 to 200 relatives and neighbours apparently had come pouring in over the past two days to see Him and seek his blessings, and Divya's family -- her brother and sister-in-law, her niece -- was also there to help and lend support.
The Thakurs' Ganpati, which resembles Pune's iconic Dagdusheth Halwai Ganesha, sparkles in his yellow dhoti and a gold carved headpiece, radiating a benign yet humorous charisma and for these last two days in September he was the focus of the Thakurs' life, a family who has been living in these parts for more than four generations, sowing the large tracts of land they own with rice, toor dal, broccoli, bhindi, eggplant, etc through different seasons.
Ganpati Puja comes in a very different manner to rural localities of Raigad, like the Thakurs' village, not far from Mandwa jetty (Mumbai is one hour away by boat).
Ganeshji arrives quietly, graciously, unlike his city brethren. But he is treated with the same amount of adoration, as well as equal reverence. On Ganesh Puja days, the fragrance of ghee hangs heavy in the fresh country air, as every home cooks up the most tempting of fare for their godly guests and diyas burn in ghee too.
The main difference in these parts is that Ganeshji is mainly and almost only visiting families, and not neighbourhoods. Villages in Raigad rarely do a sarvajanik or public Ganpati Puja. That bit of history belongs to both Mumbai and Pune. Ganpati Puja was a public event in Pune since the time of Shivaji Maharaj, but when the British began to rule India public festivities ceased.
Then in 1893, the tradition was revived, at Lokmanya Tilak's insistence, as an act of defiance against the British, who had banned public gatherings. To unite Indians and stoke national pride, Tilak asked the people to restart public celebrations of Ganesh Chaturthi and one of Bombay's first sarvajanik Ganeshotsavs was celebrated in the quiet Keshavji Naik Chawl, Girgaum, south Mumbai and Pune too saw a revival of sarvajanik festivities at the same time.
But public celebrations or large pandals have not really been a tradition in this corner of rural, coastal, Maharashtra. Nor is there any competition for bigger, better, special-theme murtis of Ganeshji in these areas, as it is in Mumbai and Pune and elsewhere. Since He comes into people's homes and must fit through the door, a Raigad Bappa is usually no higher than two feet and, more often than not, He departs one-and-a-half days later.
The Ganesh Puja festival in Alibag taluka and adjoining talukas, be it a few hours in many a home and 10 days in others, is about simplicity and minimalism, with not too many frills. It's about quiet devotion too.
In the days running up to Ganesh Chaturthi, little tin-roof workshops come up on the side of the road, all over Alibag taluka, where flocks of Lord Ganeshs are lovingly created, each murti a masterpiece of perfection.
Prices range from a few thousand to upwards of Rs 20,000, depending on the material used and the work involved; clay Ganpatis are far more expensive. Again, the most popular size is about one or two feet, although you might occasionally spy a six or seven foot one.
A few days before Ganesh Chaturthi, villagers, mostly farmers and fishermen and those in service, come by to buy a Ganpati for their homes.
The one-and-a-half day visarjan was one of the busiest days in this taluka, as will be the tenth day. Streams of Ganeshjis were immersed in countless seasonal ponds that spring up in the monsoon in this lush, luxuriously green coastal area, or at the nearest accessible beach, be it Kihim or Mandwa.
Ganpatis are usually cosily carried in the arms of devotees or delicately balanced on the head, till the water's edge, although some arrived on carts to the rat-tat-tat of drums, dhoom-dham of dholaks, accompanied by not-so-loud loudspeakers and a few firecrackers.
At the talav on Zirad Pada road, hardly a stone's throw away from where the Thakurs live, the Lord Ganeshas were first lined up and a kind of departure puja was performed.
Each Ganpati was sent off with something for His journey, that's symbolically called shidori, which means a send-off offering.
The Thakurs sent a little wrapped leaf pack of Dahi Poha with their beloved god.
Two family members carried Ganeshji to the talav or pond.
Cut fruit prasad was distributed as the family and Ganeshji slowly moved ahead.
Their beautiful murti was walked into the water by the Thakur boys, from where some local youngsters, who are divers, took charge and waded deep into the pond to immerse one Ganeshji after the next, that was brought to them.
Cellphones, spotlights were much in evidence, as families like the Thakurs craned their necks to catch the last nostalgic glimpse of their Ganpati Bappa. Faces reflected a mixture of fondness and sadness at this ordained parting, till the wonderful, all-giving god returned the following year.
WATCH: Glimpses of Ganesh Puja in Alibag taluka.
