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The Vaishnodevi Experience 2023

My first trip to Vaishnodevi was unimpressive. Climbing was hard, and it only served to highlight how badly out of shape I was, while my in-laws managed to cope so much better. Further, I hadn’t quite realized that the cave experience wouldn’t be the same as I had imagined, since the original cave was only opened at certain times a year, and that we only entered a newly created tunnel, one far easier to access, and hence more manageable with the crowds that thronged the mountain shrine. The resulting experience at the shrine, for barely a fraction of a second, hardly compared to what I had expected / imagined / heard about. So, for me, Vaishnodevi was like any other temple, nothing to write home about, something that was reflected (though not explicitly mentioned) in the blog post I wrote then.
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A Few More Interesting Ganeshas

Now that our own Ganesha has left, we have time to go and see a few more Ganeshas around us.... Here are a couple of interesting ones we came across....

This one was Krishna-style, with a flute and Gopis in attendance.....


This one was simple, sort of like the Dagdu Sheth Ganpati in Pune...
but we liked its trunk and have decided to try and make one like this next year!!



This one scored for its unusual design and the decorations....


I clicked quite a lot of pics of this Ganpati....under the different effects of the lighting...



The Chinese theme drew quite a crowd here....the kids loved those cut outs....


while I loved the lanterns...



We were welcomed by turkeys and ducks....


and the last exhibits were a couple of tortoises.. these were the only eyesores in the entire display for the poor things had too little space to move in, and even Samhith felt that they should have at least given them a pond or something so that they would have been happier!


Here is how it looked .... those gazebo like structures are where the birds and tortoises were placed... the fountains were a great touch!




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Location: Garodia Nagar, Vallabh Baug Ln, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Comments

  1. Santosh bsSeptember 7, 2011 at 11:46 AM

    they look so lovely, mumbai comes alive during these 11 days...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anu ShankarSeptember 7, 2011 at 12:48 PM

    Oh Yes, Santosh! Mumbai does come alive... just wish i had more time to go and see more ganeshas!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sridharan SrinivasanSeptember 8, 2011 at 2:43 PM

    Nice series of photos.. Ganesh festival is catching up in other places too.. Chennai also had its share this time..
    I enjoyed viewing these photos..!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anu ShankarSeptember 8, 2011 at 5:58 PM

    Thanks Sridharan! yes, these days festivals are spreading all over the world! I even got a link to ganeshotsav in a temple in France!

    ReplyDelete

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