Manpower

I remember a Ganesh Chaturthi from my childhood. I had visited one of my uncles Vikas on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi. Uncle had a very big family. Whenever we use to go to his home for a Ganesh Chaturthi, we would often see a lot of young men, children, and women who would be devoting their time to the preparation of the festival on a giant scale. I would be really thrilled to see such a big family working together out of devotion for Ganpati Bappa. Once uncle said something to me that remained with me forever, "the devotion to Bappa is only possible when there is a power of M. That is manpower and money power. Bappa has blessed my family with both manpower and money power. As long as his blessings are with our family we will continue to worship him".

Over the years I would visit his place every year and seek blessings from Bappa. However there was one observation that became prominent each and every year. I would notice that each year the crowd had been reducing. I had observed that young men who earlier where 15 or 20 were reducing one by one each year. Children had been growing into teens and young men. Yet the numbers of people had been reducing each year. Girls were growing into young women and would be soon married off. They would sometimes visit while sometimes could not. The older generation had also been reducing because of the obvious reason.

But this your the festival was devastating. I visited my uncle's home in the morning itself. I visited his home early because I did not want to have lunch at his home. When I reached his home I noticed that he had been sitting in the living room where Bappa's idol was. The decoration was very simple as compared with the extravagant decoration I had been seeing over the years. In attendance were only a couple of cousins and their families. The home that I have seen hustling and bustling with over 100 people had around 20 people today. I had been looking around and my uncle realised, "only these many people this year. Nobody else is coming", the disappointment was heard in his voice.

I was confused, "why is that? I know today is Monday but entire Maharashtra has a holiday today. Are they stuck in traffic?" I was trying to find reasons for the people who had not arrived yet.

"No. Just these many attendees this year. We are not expecting any more people who join us. Most of your cousins are settled abroad. This year none of them are coming. Your nephews and nieces who are studying out of state do not have a holiday today hence they are not coming as well. The ones who were within the state and could come are these 20 people", uncle said.

While I was looking around I believe my face had shown the disappointment. Uncle quickly took a notice of it and said, " I know what you are feeling right now. I felt just this yesterday. I used to tell you that our family has been blessed with the power of M. The power of money is still with us. Unfortunately it is the manpower that has been lacking over the years. My family has been aligned itself with the progress. But the disadvantage of progress is inability to come for the religious events. That is what hurts me the most. The family has been reducing and the bonds have been dissolving. You promise me something; that irrespect you of what happens, you will come here every year," uncle asked me with tearful eyes.

"I promise I will come here every year. You will never lose the manpower that you have invested in me I promise you that," I said with determination. I made a promise to myself that I will continue to visit every family Ganpati till the time I could.