Vinayagar Chathurthi, a festivel that units the people of different background, is celebrated in India in a big way. Lord Ganesha is symbolized in all forms, particularly he is worshipped when a new venture is begun. Boys Town has a tradition of celebrating the Vinayaga Pooja from the very inception. Boys are exuberant from the morning, cleaning the rooms, searching for clay to make the idol of Ganesha, flowers and other decorative things to make the place colorful. It is in the evening by 3 PM we all assembled in a small Vinayaka temple situated inside our premises. There are five rooms and a competition was announced on the sculpturing skill and I had promised that I will give a special gift to the room which makes a novel Vinayaka. Kabila, an Indian volunteer who stayed with us accepted to be the judge. The room leaders, under their guidance, brought the Vinayaga Sculture one by one and the boys were jubilant and applause on seeing the idol. The boy who took the charge as a priest conducted the pooja in a ceremonious way and offered the Thiruneer, Santhan, Kukkum (to be placed in the forehead) to all the members. Santhanakumar, our drummer, beat the drum and the boys were dancing to the tunes. Judge had chosen the Nedugam room headed by Ramalingam as the winner of the competition.It was the time the sun slowly disappearing and the darkness started covering the field.
I thought the
ceremony was over. But to my surprise, boys started lifting the idols of their
room and dancing to the tunes of the drum towards the farm. I was wondering
what was really happening. I asked Rajkumar, a little lad who just waved his
hand and asked me to follow him. I just followed him, holding his little
finger. They were moving towards the well and the leader took the idol and
started going down in the well where half of the wall did not have proper stair
case. My heart was throbbing and my pulse rate was increasing. I was literally
shouting to Sekhar, our Asst. Director, who was cautiously taking care of
others and let the leaders go down the well. My wife was holding my hand and
literally closed her eyes and started praying for their safety. The well was so
deep and the water level is too low and it is a risk, my city experience
repeatedly made me to shout at the boys not to go further. They were laughing
and went down and immersed the idol in the water and returned back happily.
Their eyes were shining and their smiles were sparkling and their hearts were
filed with Joy. All these wonder feeling of fulfillment could possibly be given
only by such experience and not the days in the class rooms. I jumped at them
and hugged them and expressed by joy by lifting them up.
Dr. P.N.Narayana Raja,
Facilitator, RBT
22nd Sep,2012
