Grandeur of Ganeshotsav Celebration by Houston Marathi Mandal (HMM)!

By Ameya Wakde

HOUSTON: “Bappa Morya” – a heartfelt call to Lord Ganesh ran in the air. It was that time of the year when houses of most of the Indian families came alive to the sound of festive preparation. Kids and elders indulged themselves in preparation of a clay idol adorned creatively with colors and jewelry and the homes filled with aroma of scrumptious food.

Like every year, this year too HMM (Houston Marathi Mandal – www.hmmhouston.org) celebrated Ganeshotsav festival with full enthusiasm on Sep 10, at VPSS Hall, 11715 Bellfort Village Dr, Houston, TX.  It was a sold-out event with more than 700 people in attendance. Preparations started 2 months in advance of the festival where almost 100 participants and volunteers worked hard to make the celebration eventful. The event was telecasted live with viewers from all over US, UK and India.

The celebration started sharp 3.30 pm with miravnuk which is a procession to welcome Lord Ganesh. This procession was led by Dhol-Tasha (percussion instruments) group and Lezim (musical instrument with jingling cymbals) group who went all the way to give a grand welcome to their favorite Ganapati Bappa with their energetic performances. HMM president Megha Ozarker welcomed everyone with her speech with more information on Marathi Shala and Vaastu. This was followed with a Marathi drama (Directed By Chaitrali Gokhale Thote) with dance performances that walked us through some of the important life events of Lord Ganesh. The young ones were simply phenomenal and fluent in Marathi – well-groomed by their parents and teachers from Houston’s Marathi school.

Towards the end we had Ganesh aarti (prayer) where everyone in the audience stood up and collectively chanted in reverence of the Lord. This was followed by scrumptious Maharashtrian food with Modak and Amras being the most indispensable dishes.

HMM extends its heartfelt thanks to all the volunteers, sponsors, participants and wonderful audience for their generous support.

HMM is a non-profit organization that has been organizing Maharashtrian cultural events, encouraging Maharashtrian arts and promoting the Marathi language in the Houston area since 1976.

The next event in the HMM calendar is the “Diwali Dhamaka” details of the same can be found on HMM website.