AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when Goans were preparing to welcome Lord Ganesh for the Chavath festival which starts September 7, 2024. For a Saturday following the week on the sharp increase in beef lynching on the eve of state assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra. For a Saturday following the week when there’s an outbreak of dengue among migrant workers in the fishing trawlers of Goa.
AND a few stray thoughts on Goans preparing to welcome Lord Ganesh for the Chavath festival on Saturday, September 7, the first day of Goa’s favorite festival when people go home from wherever they are for 15 days or more. Dr Sameer Kelekar, Goa’s cyber security expert from Bengaluru recalled on a Facebook post how his father, the late Gurunath Kelekar, always spoke about the excitement of the Chavath festival. To quote Sameer Kelekar, “My father was emotional. He was telling stories about his childhood and Chavath celebration in his ancestral home at Priol. How he used to wait with anticipation for Lord Ganesh with sweets, matoli and fireworks. We used to bring Ganesh with all fanfare and celebrate. But very soon one-and- a-half days would pass and Ganesh Visarjan would take place. They used to get depressed.” Gurunath Kelekar, freedom fighter and founder of MARG, also lamented about his son Sameer who only paid him brief visits like Lord Ganesh. Sameer recalls how he had returned to Bengaluru and the next day heard of his father passing away. Chavath will never be the same again for him.
Chavath is the festival when bhatji (Hindu priests) are in very great demand. The image of Ganesh is kept at the entrance of the house. It cannot be taken into the house and installed under the special matoli canopy till the priest has performed the welcome puja. To meet the demand for priests the local priests imported assistance from Gokarna and Maharashtra. Both the arrival and the departure of the Lord Ganesh cannot take place without the blessing of bhatji.
In Goa and the Konkan region, Chavath is basically centered around immediate family and extended families. Only one member of the family keeps the image of Lord Ganesh at home during Chavath and everyone comes here. Which is why all the rest of the extended family not only from Goa but the rest of the country and world try to return to their ancestral world and roots of family to honor in thanksgiving the festival worship of Lord Ganesh.
Since most people living in cities like Panaji have originally migrated from their villages, they lock up their shops and return to their village homes for the duration of at least 15 days or more or less. Unfortunately, roaming eyes crooks take full advantage of the absence of Goans from their city homes. The thieves have a great time as even the police are busy with their own Chavath celebration.
In most Goan homes Chavath rites and rituals of worshipful celebrations are for only the minimum of one-and-a-half days. However, in the villages the festival may be observed for five, nine, 11 and 21 days.
Traditionally, only steamed modak made of rice flour are offered to Lord Ganesh. We also understand that believers may have only one rice meal per day during the Chavath days of observance. In Maharashtra sweet modak offered to Lord Ganesh are never made from mava, mava modak in rainbow colors are the most commonly sold by non-Goan sweet shops. This year even the Marriott hotel offered traditional hand-made modak in premium boxes of a dozen variety of modak in each box.
The Sarvajanik Ganesh mandal celebrations are offering huge winnings on their Lord Ganesh lottery tickets. I understand that in Quepem 2BHK flats and fancy cars are being are the prizes for winning lottery numbers. There were long queues to buy the lottery tickets of these Ganesh mandal. The tradition of Sarvajanik Ganesh mandal started with freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak in Pune long before Independence.
These Sarvajanik Ganesh or local community festivities became a focus point for the struggle against the British colonial empire. The richest and the most popular of the Ganesh mandal in Mumbai has been the Parel Cha Raja. The gigantic bejeweled image of Lord Ganesh here is usually decorated with real jewelry and a gold crown.
Virtually all the film stars of Bollywood in Mumbai attend the installation of the Lalbaug Cha Raja. Lalbaug Ganesh celebrations take place in what was once the working class textile mills areas of central Mumbai. Now of course the area has become posh with wealthy residents in swanky high rise apartments. The old working class Parel has gone forever and is replaced by shopping malls and fancy eateries.
Equally famous among the Vinayak temples is the Siddhi Vinayaka temple at Dadar in Mumbai. The biggest film stars Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan and many other male and female film stars and some business tycoons go walking from their home to the Siddhivinayak temple at Prabhadevi to thank Lord Vinayaka for the success of their films.
Shri Ganesh is considered the god who removes all obstacles from life. Which is why Lord Ganesh is worshipped first before any new venture is launched by the business community. As far as I am aware the oldest temple in Goa dedicated to Lord Ganesh is the one at Karmali which dates back to the 12th century. I have the privilege of being the proud owner of a 300-year-old very serene Ganesh image which was gifted to me by the family of Dr Peter Ronald D’Souza, former Head of the Department of Political Science at Goa University. The image is at least 300 years old and it gets a bath annually in my home wherever it is every Chavath, also sweets, flowers and leaves.

BEEF LYNCHINGS
AND a few stray thoughts on the sharp increase in beef lynchings on the eve of state assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra. According to the Reuters reports as many as 28 Indians, of whom 24 were Muslims, have been killed by Gau Rakshaks. Among the most recent is the lynchings which took place in Haryana and Maharashtra on members of the minority community. In Maharashtra senior citizens of the minority community were lynched in a train. It would appear that the BJP is targeting the minority community in the run-up to the elections in Haryana and Maharashtra. There have also been reports of youth being chased for 29km and shot dead on a Delhi-Agra highway by Gau Rakshaks on August 24, 2024.
Many BJP leaders have also been indulging in hate speeches. The most notorious is the Konkan BJP Member of Parliament and former Maharashtra minister Narayan Rane. Narayan Rane is on record that he would target members of the Muslim minority community. Rane insists that he is first and foremost a Hindu and only then an MLA. It may be recalled that before the parliamentary elections, there were a number of cases of assault on members of the minority community for possession, transport and consumption of beef. Reportedly in most cases it was only a suspicion and no real case was made out against the victims. We do not know if it’s a coincidence that the meat shops in the Panaji municipal market have been shut down on the grounds that the old building is about to collapse. But no alternative accommodation has been provided for those who have been selling beef, mutton and chicken.
Fortunately, in Goa there have been no attacks on people who transport, sell and consume beef. Not only the Muslim, Catholic and minority communities but a large number of OBC Hindus consume beef because it is the cheapest meat they may afford. Beef is also considered by many as good protein source. There is however no slaughter of cows in Goa. In fact, no cattle are slaughtered in Goa and all supplies of beef come from Belgavi.
Which of course poses another problem because the roads between Goa and Belgavi continue to be in a terrible state. Plus, the supply of vegetables, including onions and garlic, has been severely affected because of the failure of agricultural crops in Belgavi farmlands.

POLITICAL LOOT
AND a few stray thoughts on the charge that the ongoing chief secretary of Goa, Puneet Kumar Goel, is himself involved in the illegal conversion of an 1,875 sq mtr plot of land in Aldona village. The scam has been disclosed by Aldona MLA Carlos Alvares. What is even more shocking is that the chief secretary is reported to have signed the conversion document himself. The land was converted from agriculture to settlement. The property known as Pandre is within the jurisdiction of the Aldona Panchayat. After having it converted chief secretary Puneet Goel is reported to have bought the property for Rs2.6 crore. A YouTube video of the land conversion of purchase by the chief secretary has gone viral on social media.
Besides the chief secretary, BJP Goa President Sadanand Tanavade is also reported to have got a large property in Arambol converted from agriculture to settlement. There has been persistent rumors that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and BJP national JP Nadda have also bought a lot of property in and around Mopa.

NETFLIX SERIES CONTROVERSY
AND a few stray thoughts on the controversy over the Netflix series “IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack” – the hijack of the Indian Airline flight IC 814 to Kandahar in Afghanistan. Netflix has been screening a web series on the incident which took place on December 27, 1999 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister. The then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh flew to Kandahar in a relief plane to bring back the passengers. The BJP government had to release the three terrorists Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, Masood Azhar and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar.
The Netflix series has come under attack for hiding the real names of the hijackers. The series referred to the hijackers Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayad, Sunny, Ahmad Qazi and Zahoor Mistry and Shakir by their Hindi code names Bhola, Shankar, Doctor, Burger and Chief. The primary allegation is that the series is supposed to be biased in favor of Pakistan.
The content director of Netflix India Monika Shergill re-edited the series to show the actual names of the Pakistan terrorists. The BJP government and PM Narendra Modi are very embarrassed as it is seen as a sign of weakness on the part of Vajpayee to permit the release of leading terrorists in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
There is also another controversy raging about film actress Kangana Ranaut in a feature film titled “Emergency.” Kangana plays the role of Indira Gandhi in the film. The film has been opposed by Sikh groups on the claim that it demonizes the Sikh community. This is in the context of the storming of the Golden Temple by the Indian army to liberate it from the Sikh chief Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
The subsequent assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh security guard at her residence is attributed to Indira Gandhi’s earlier order for the army to enter the Golden Temple and the temple was damaged during this event. Ever since the army entry or Operation Blue Star, a group of Sikhs have been demanding a separate state of Khalistan for the Sikh community. At the height of the Khalistan movement, an Air-India flight was brought down allegedly by Sikh militants. The militants were allegedly given refuge in Canada and even today Canada is accused of supporting the Khalistani movement for a separate homeland for Sikhs.

DENGUE FOR MIGRANTS
AND a few last stray thoughts on the outbreak of dengue and caroli among the migrant workers in the fishing trawlers of Goa. The majority of the workers on the trawlers owned by Goans are from Odisha and Karnataka. Goans may love eating fish but not the hard work of trawler fishing. If fish is still in short supply it is because many of the migrant workers have not returned for this fishing season.
The migrant workers are not provided proper accommodation by Goan trawler owners. It is also claimed that they come from areas in Karnataka and Odisha which are prone to dengue. A number of cases of caroli have also been reported. If the trawler owners do not check on the health of their migrant workers the fish they consume may easily have caroli infection.