Lalbaug cha raja 2011
Yes, you read it right. He is the king. Not only the
king of “Lalbaug” but of Mumbai. The statistics says last year i.e in 2010, the
total numbers of people visited lalbaug were 2 crores and the total offering
was 5 crores along with gold and other ornaments. This year i.e in 2011,
initial assumption says, it would double the amount of devotees as well as
offerings. It shows how much trust people have in lalbaug cha raja. If things are
like this, who would not want to get a glimpse of king of all Ganesha idols?
Here comes my experience of ” Lalbaug cha raja” this year.
I have decided to visit “Lalbaug cha raja” on Saturday night
so that I can reach home by Sunday afternoon and can have some rest before
facing Monday blues in office. But someone has rightly said, “Things are never
the way you think”. This was what I had thought and planned but god had some
different plans for me. He was not going to give me a chance to touch his feet
that easily. You need to suffer before you get the success.
We
got down at Dadar station, took a cab till Lower Parel ( Kala Chowki ) and
joined one of the longest queues of devotees at 11:00 PM. For your information
folks, there are basically 2 queues to get the darshan of lalbaug cha raja. One
is “Mukh Darshan Queue” (where you get the chance to see the idol from a distance)
and second “Mannat Queue” (where you get the chance to touch the feet of the
idol). Obviously mannat queue takes more time than the mukh darshan queue. We
joined “Mannat Queue”. I have noticed that before the actual hall of “lalbaug” starts,
there was already a queue for 6-7 kilometers on road. And then there were total
of 15 different sections inside the hall. You start from section 15 and then
you reach the section 1 which is the last section. I think walking is not a
proper word to use, I would rather say we were crawling towards victory. So
queue started crawling as if it is competing with Tortoise and we followed as
we could not help it. On the way there was free food, free water and free
medical help in case needed. Also there were lots of announcements asking elderly people and pregnant or women
with small babies not to stand in line. People were enchanting Ganesh Mantras
and roaring the bappa’s best line “Ganapati Bappa Morya” as loud as they could.
Total place had spiritual ambiance.
We
kept walking, sometimes also sat on the chair they provided and never allowed
ourselves to get tired. I made friends there right from a 5 year old kid to 60
year old man. After standing in a queue for more than 2 hours, you could easily
recognize the faces that who are with you from the start and who all are newly
added. We motivated each other. We also discussed lots of things about “lalbaug
cha raja”, its history, comparison of all years, lots of statistics about when
we will reach, about all the wishes which got fulfilled when people worshiped
at lalbaug and almost everything. Of course we had ample amount of time and had
nothing to do apart from waiting, waiting and waiting.
Our
wish and constant inspiration kept us alive and we reached slowly but happily
to the section 1.Our efforts bore fruit. I was excited. There was something in my heart that was
telling me that these 25 hours of waiting are worth it. Yes, it took 25 hours
to touch the feet of my lord for hardly 5 seconds.We got darshan at 11:15 PM on Sunday But tell you people, those 5
seconds are sufficient to forget all your sufferings. It is like an
achievement. You feel good about yourself. You say ,” yes , I did it” because there
are many people on the way who could not reach till final stage due to either
they think they would not able to reach there or may be because there body
starts giving ill-signals. So there was I, extremely euphoric, that was the
kind of happiness which can make you cry.
This experience also gives you lots of lessons about life. I have noted down
some of mine.
Life lessons which “lalbaug
cha raja” taught me.
Anger- When people were jumping into queue from nowhere :-@,
When people were fighting for a place and using bad words. This was not acceptable.You must keep your head cool and behave maturely.
Because that is what god expects from us.
Frustration- After finishing section 8 of around 50 zig zag
lines, I thought there would be some relief but no, there was one more huge
section with 100 lines was welcoming me with open arms :-/ and later on these
superb surprises continued till we reached section 1 where there was no more
zigzag. Whew!!
Patience- When our queue was moving at the speed of
5steps/1hr :-( Seriously, there was a time when we were standing on the same
place for more than 1 and half hour because they were doing some clean-up
activities and also some celebrity has given a visit.
Inspiration- When in the same queue, I
saw a person walking on his knees... It made me think and gave me strength O:-)
He was walking with the support of his knees and
palms. After looking at the confidence on his face, I asked myself “Hiren, if
he can do the same thing on knees then it would be shameful for me if could not
complete it with my feet”
We all are ONE- When I saw a Muslim person not only
worshiping for Ganesha but have also won some “lucky draw” price out of all
devotees :-) Yes, god gave us perfect example and also have left strong message
saying that we all are one and all have same purpose on this earth to help each
other and to live a happy & peaceful life. Because we all know, in the end, it’s between
us and god. We will have to answer him for every sin.
Happiness – After standing in a queue
for 25 hours, I got chance to touch the feet of Lord Ganesha for 5 seconds. But
it was worth it and those 5 seconds were enough to forget all the sufferings.
My eyes were filled and I was euphoric O:-)
I hope this experience will make you smile in the end and I wish that
ganesha bring extreme happiness to your life, keep you healthy and fulfill all
your dreams.
Say it with me – “ Ganapati Bappa Morya” “ Lalbaug cha rajacha , Vijay aso “
Life Is Beautiful!!!
