ANTIQUE RAILROAD POCKET WATCHES

I start a new series at Word Press of my pictures that I shot of the GSB Lord Ganesha at Kings Circle last year, may be the Lord was inquistive to know how I would capture him, with Shivas eye embedded in minds camera consciousness..all this would not have been possible without Dr BU Pai convener of this awesome pandal, a very close friend, radiologist at the prestigious Hinduja Hospital.
Photography is strictly prohibited, but here once again the Lord turns a Nelsons eye…the Lord is very photogenic, loves photography and photographers…The Lord is selective too in his choice of photographers.. I was plain lucky..I have already been given the green signal to shoot him next year too…
For the South Indian Saraswat Gaud community , he is as huge as the Lal Bagh Chya Raja..but this cohesive community , put all their time to serving the Lord , men women children, you are transported to Mangalore , on wings of poetic fancy… the entire Pandal, the ceremonies are out of this world…everybody is wrapped up in the beauty of this Grandiose Lord…
All roads lead to Kings Circle…directly a shortcut to the Lords Kingdom up above in the labyrinths of his Divinity.
Honestly you dont need to be a staunch Hindu to be bessed by the Lord.. he blesses generously …more generously when he knows you Allahs invoker and disciple too…these are my personal feelings both at this pandal and at Lal Bag Chya Raja that I shot extensively to share it with my American friends at Buzznet…
I now bring them to Word Press to showcase what I call Hope and Hindutva.
11 th april 2007

GSB means Gaud Saraswati Brahmins..

These series of Pictures would have not been possible without the finest friend that God has specially given me Dr BU Pai eminent sonolgist and celebrity cult doctor at Hinduja Hospital Mumbai.

I copy their brochure I took when I left the august presence of the GSB Ganesha..

Dear Fellow devotee,
It is with great pleasure we inform you about the 52 nd Shree Gaaneshotsav Celeberations of our GSB Seva Mandal which will be celebrated at Sri Sukriteendra Nagar , A Rama Nayak Halll grounds behind SNDT Womens college R A Kidwai marg Kings Circle Mumbai 19. from 27th Aug,2006 till 31st Aug 2006.
We also have the proud privilege to state that the Shree Ganeshotsav is celebrated by us with unique spiritual and religious focus to insure that all the offerings made to Lord Ganesha reach him in the purity of thoughts and action.
The five days celebration of Seva Mandal is one where all volunteers whole heartedly work day and night right from collection of donations to service towards the Lordand also his devotees thronging the Pandal to pay obeisance to the Lord.The Shrama Daan of our volunteers is truly worth watching at the venue.
The Lords idol stands majestically at height of 17 feet studded with gold ornaments and a beautiful gold crown.When the celebrations were first initiated by Seva Mandal , the Lords idol was 14 inches, .
It exemplifies the stature and glory of our Lord who is also known to fulfil wishes of his ardent devotees. Seva Mandal feels itself fortunate to be blessed by our Dharma Guru His HolinessSudhindra Titha Swamiji , The Mathadipati of Shri Kashi Math Samasthan without which these celebrations could not have scaled to such great heights…
May Lord Ganesha inspire and bless us all.

Madhav K Prabhu ( Chairman )
Rajiv R Kamath ( Hon Gen Sec )

Ramesh V Bhandarkar( Hon Treasurer)

Dr Bhujang U Pai (Convenor)

Dinesh S Pai
Raghunuandan S Kamath
( Jt Convenor)

These are some of the best pictures I have attempted to shoot but my flash let me down as the area to cover was very vast,though I would have got better results had I taken my Manfrotto tripod.. , the euphoria of the Lord is woven in the hands of the little kids who on the stage light the lamps, the women cutting vegetables, and the youth proud and resplendent smiles and the Future of our nation building, the pretty damsels all enlightened in their comeliness by the Grace of Lord Ganesha and dressed in their Sunday best, the Mothers silently praying to the Lord to see that he finds them great grooms greater soul mates, a tear drops from my eye as fathers I still believe are far more maternal than mothers show it with tears the love of their daughters on the threshold of entering a new world as brides .. Samiya comes to mind.. Samiya is my college going daughter all of 18 years..

The Pujaris their beatific smiles the Head Pujari when I was introduced to him by Dr BU Pai more happy and appreciative when he heard my name told Dr Pai a Mussalman.. good man, applied tilak on my forehead that I did not politely refuse.. as I was an honored guest in the Temple of the GSB Ganpati…
Mr KG Shenoy and his lovely wife , proud in laws of Dr BU Pai.. watched my antics my one leg kundalini accumulating photography.
The two kind photographers on the stage shooting the moods of the Lord and also took my shots I am greatful to them.
I have kept all other pictures of the Pandals in my B

Thanks to Dr BU Pai I start a new series at Flickr.com a series ,very close to my heart the GSB Ganpati King Circle 2009..I have been continuously shooting it since a few years now.

GSB means Gaud Sarawswat Brahmin..one of the finest peace loving community settled in Mumbai from the South, their humility , their love for Lord Ganesha touches every one including this barefeet Muslim blogger from Mumbai..

The GSB community , everyone men women and children leave no stone unturned to make this event a great spiritual success...everybody is doing some community service, as volunteers , feeding the crowds , keeping vigilance in such trying times ,the men dressed in lungis bare bodied move about serving the devotees of Lord Ganesha.. The King of King of King Circle..

I copy lines from their old brochure ...

"Dear Fellow devotee,
It is with great pleasure we inform you about the 55 th Shree Gaaneshotsav Celeberations of our GSB Seva Mandal which will be celebrated at Sri Sukriteendra Nagar , A Rama Nayak Halll grounds behind SNDT Womens college R A Kidwai marg Kings Circle Mumbai 19. from 23 th Aug,2009 till 27 th Aug 2009.
We also have the proud privilege to state that the Shree Ganeshotsav is celebrated by us with unique spiritual and religious focus to insure that all the offerings made to Lord Ganesha reach him in the purity of thoughts and action.
The five days celebration of Seva Mandal is one where all volunteers whole heartedly work day and night right from collection of donations to service towards the Lordand also his devotees thronging the Pandal to pay obeisance to the Lord.The Shrama Daan of our volunteers is truly worth watching at the venue.
The Lords idol stands majestically at height of 17 feet studded with gold ornaments and a beautiful gold crown.When the celebrations were first initiated by Seva Mandal , the Lords idol was 14 inches, .
It exemplifies the stature and glory of our Lord who is also known to fulfil wishes of his ardent devotees. Seva Mandal feels itself fortunate to be blessed by our Dharma Guru His HolinessSudhindra Titha Swamiji , The Mathadipati of Shri Kashi Math Samasthan without which these celebrations could not have scaled to such great heights…
May Lord Ganesha inspire and bless us all."


As Dr BU Pai was at work, he called me this morning to shoot the Lord and a unique ritual called Tolabar where a person is weighed on a scale and his weight equivalent to his offerings , coconuts ladoos, prasadam is presented to Lord Ganesha.

Photography is strictly prohibited , but thanks to the community and the GSB management I am allowed to shoot the Lord that he touches all of you on cyberspace, and these are over 800 pictures shot in a few hours.

Mr Dinesh Pai , Mr Dilip Pai the head honchos, and other volunteers helped me , and were hospitable in all aspects , today was my third fast of Ramzan, and nothing could tire me when it comes to sharing the bounty of Lord Ganesha not just as a religiosity but as my cultural inheritance.. thus continues my mission of Hope and Hindutva as a message of Peace.

As you are aware I shot Lal Bagh Cha Raja on the day of my first fast Aug 23 2009..and his first day in royal court at Lalbagh..

I completed uploading all this at Flickr today.


A incident took place this morning at the GSB Ganesha Pandal which made me cry , I need to share it with all of you, while I was shooting the Lord a youth came to me and thanked me I had never met him before ,so I was quite surprised , he explained to me that due to unavoidable reasons he could not partake in the celebrations of his favorite Lard , last year .
Than he found my GSB pictures on Flickr.com , and attained his spiritual happiness and made his darshan too, , on hearing this I began to cry..

Photography is an instrument of Peace and as a Photo Blog it becomes a means to holistically heal the human soul..

I dedicate this to Hari Shenoy from Bhandup the youth whose eyes went moist seeing me cry, , he gave me a reason to heal myself too..and what is a Hindu or a Muslim ,if he is not touched by the love of humanity..We believe in God so we can believe in ourselves , I too gain a spiritual high as I shoot spirituality where a divinity comes in the form of clay to remind us of our own mortality , he touches and binds us all and than goes away to return again the following year..

Ganesha festival is about our nationality - making us good Indians irrespective of our caste color or creed .

Thank You Lord..


Om Parvati Putaaye, Hara Hara Hara Mahadev
Gajaananam Bhoota Ganaadhi Sevitam
Kapitta Jamboophaala Saara Bhakshitam
Umaasutam Shoka Vinaasha Kaaranam
Namaami Vighneswara Paada Pankajam

Thank you Dr BU Pai
Thank you Mr Dinesh Pai
Thank you Dilip Pai

Above all thank you GSB community.

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