Friends in Need and Doubts and My Friend Ganesha (alias Ganpya bhau)

[JUSTIFY]Odd title, did I hear you say? Well, I don't blame you for that. I do sometimes doubt my own sanity and wonder what I am talking and thinking about. :spin But let me leave that aside, since my sanity or the lack of it is not the topic of this thread.

What I want to talk of here is about two special friends from IL who have proved to be real friends - one a friend in need and one a friend in doubt. Yes, you heard right - a friend in doubt.

Now I have always maintained that there is a God. I am not a "religious" person - I am somehow not too comfortable with rituals or poojas. My belief in God is thanks to my mother. She is moderately educated. Due to certain circumstances in her life, she had to stop her education when she was in Pre-Degree those days. She has always felt this very deeply. But for all this, she has always been very smart - certainly smart enough to handle a daughter (a "devil" or "shaitan" in her words :hide like yours faithfully. I once asked her what proof there was that God existed. She asked me if there was any power I knew of who could create the universe, the perfection and the beauty around me. That was enough for me to accept that she was right. I had no arguments against that. Either I was too stupid or she was too smart or she was right. :biglaugh :exactly:

So, coming back to the story, recently when I went to Pune, I bought a Ganesha - the kind that people usually install for the Ganesh pooja and then immerse. I love the idols that are made in Maharashtra. There is something so exceptionally beautiful about them and Ganesha is my favourite God. So I bought this idol (photograph below) with the intention of keeping it for ever more with me. I packed Ganesha very carefully in my suitcase with a lot of soft padding so as to bring him intact. Unfortunately, the hand of his which was raised in blessing was broken. I felt slightly uncomfortable, but not being particularly superstitious and not believing in an angry God, I just joked to my maid that we needed to set right God's fractured hand. Anyway it was good that he feel what the pain was that we feel when we break our bones. That was that.

Yesterday, in the course of my mental wanderings (these days they wander around the roads of my mom's illness) this conversation came right back to me and I was a bit stunned at the coincidence and wondered if this was the reason God got back at my mom by breaking her leg. Again I brushed away the thought. I was however considering whether I should immerse this idol after all.

This morning I was mentioning this to my good friend (and now newly found Guruji - yes, he is good enough to start a Baba channel on television - good old Kamal baba. Now that he has given up smoking, eats a lot of vegetables and is trying to moderate his drinking habits, I am sure a saffron robe, kamandal, rudraksha mala would sit well on him :rotfl). I was really impressed as well as comforted by his words of practical spiritual wisdom - I totally agreed with him, because I believe those same things myself. I just wonder where such wisdom vaporizes when one is in trouble. :bang

So the long and short of it is, well, Ganesha is not upset at me. He continues to be my friend. If he is putting me through this roller coaster, he must have a good reason for this. How many times in the past have I experienced this myself. Kamal Guruji told me how he too had experienced the worst lows only to rise and realize that it happened for the best. I was reminded of Somerset Maugham's story on "The Verger". So thank you very much Guruji. :bowdown

The other friend, this one the proverbial friend in need is our Jack in the box, sorry, I mean outofthebox. I had felt rather ashamed of myself for having written a sob story in a previous snippet. But as my Guruji says, everything happens for the good. Now this time, the good came in the form of this outofthebox who decided it was time to spring out of her box. She came one evening with her husband and kid to meet me in hospital and spent some time here. My mom was happy to see the kid and was cheerful for a while. Two days later, this new friend came and spent the entire day with me at the hospital cheering me up and helping me look after mom. So if Ganpya bhau (Ganpati being my friend is Ganpya and bhau means brother) broke my mom's leg, he also gave me a very good friend who really came to me at a time when I had no one around to help. He sent me a true friend. Q.E.D. Kamalji, you are right. Ganpya bhau is not angry with me. He still loves me and is still my friend. So I shall not drown him. He shall stay in his exalted seat in my living room and continue to look down benevolently on me and bless me with his erstwhile fractured, now set right with Fevicol hand.[/JUSTIFY]

 

Kamalji, let us start up a channel of our own and run a business of giving pravachans - a joint venture.
What say Guruji?

 

outofthebox, well if I look like Ganpya bhau, as cute as this one, I would not mind sitting in the same pose. The middle would surely justify the similarity.:rotfl

Sure, next time you get a Ganesha from there too. These are traditionally made in a place called "Pen" between Mumbai and Pune.

 

True Shelly. May be I am unable to see it now. I shall wait for time to unfold whatever plans are in store for mom and me.

 

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Dear Vijima,

How rightly you have put it. It was so comforting to have her here and especially when no one else was available for help.

Thanks Vijima for the lovely feedback and the nomination. How is Mama doing?