THE ELEPHANT GOD

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