THE ELEPHANT GOD                                                            Dr K Prabhakar Rao        

Once in a year the elephant god@ is   revered 

Whose idols are at roadside placed

Urchins go around collecting sums

They have no work except to enjoy at slums

 

@ Vinayaka

 

The hoodlums hold few empty tins in hands

And stand at roadside in groups as roving vagabonds

The scooterists and passers are stopped enroute

They demand money and failing they behave as brutes

 

Big small medium and very huge

The idols in Pandals* they take refuge

A curtain is drawn in front of the God in the day

From mischief he is free from feeling dismay

 

* Tent or covered  shed

 

Songs are played in loudspeakers

Those in pandals drink tea in beakers

At fall of night the place is brightly lit

The priest is ready with his usual evening kit

 

The display of god goes on for Ten days

Many feel surprised at Indian ways

Finally the idols are put in dirty pond

Breaking away the week long bond

 

 Entire police force is busy with this show

They are ready to prevent any communal row

Thousands of useful hours are frittered away

Thanks to our Indian traditional way

 

Idols are taken grand procession

Although the rupee is down with recession

For Hindus and Muslims this is a testing time

Keeping harmony is the matter of prime

  

The God revered for ten long days in devotion

Thrown into a filthy lake without any hesitation

One over the other the idols are thrown as muck

While the crane used in the act gets stuck

 

Urchins and rag pickers have a field day

And they jump into filthiest waters of shallow bay

Rods of steel are pulled out from the idols

Fate is now pathetic for the revered models

 

Police in the city have a long breath

While the knives of hoodlums are hidden sheaths

The great gimmick of the year is over oh dear

And the people and police await  the drama happily for the next year

                         

---------------- Note: Content of this blog post is writer's personal opinion and may not be SanghParivar.org or Sangh's view.