My Cousin Suresh and his 58th Ganesh

Suresh spent fifty years in Delhi. He had his childhood years spent in Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and finally Delhi. Presenty he has retired in Mumbai, and thus has learnt best of Indian traits from all those places.

Suresh learnt "do it yourself" traits early in his life. In the Gandhian Education Institution called Sharadashram in Bordi near Thana (Maharashtra). He was very much influenced by his teacher Shri S.R. Save who was a strict disciplinarian but loved kids dearly. Suresh has a fine artistic temperament and is very good at several arts and crafts like drawing, painting, tailoring, spray-work, knitting, clay-modeling etc. He has excelled in preparing idol of Ganapati or Ganesh.

Prakash Burde/Kamat's Potpourri

My Cousin Suresh Basurkar

Suresh was barely seven, when he started keenly watching his Maharashtrian neighbor Karnik in Okha (in Gujarat) moulding clay and preparing the Ganapati-idol. When his family shifted to Delhi in 1947, the city was in great turmoil following the partition of India. No idol of Ganesh was available in the known areas. The ritual of Ganesh-puja being compulsory in the family, Suresh swung into action. He prepared his first idol for Ganesh Chaturthi that year and was successful. Once you start something auspicious connected with Elephant-God, it continues without any vighna (hindrance) is his firm belief.

Suresh gets special clay required, from Pena in Maharashtra. He needs about 15kgs of this clay to make one idol. He does not need any mould. He uses his imagination and freedom, every year to make the idol. "Hands and fingers are the most difficult part" he says.

"This year, at work with my 58th idol, I found the strain to sit for long hours and finally decided to call it a day. But the idea of purchasing an idol from Mumbai market next year was sad. Substitute arrangement was done to install our beloved family deity at Mallapur Math, a small place in North Kanara district, which practice is being followed nowadays by several families."

"As you get older, you become physically weak and unable to stand the strain of performing puja-rituals along with making idols and decorating. The latter requires minute touches and great concentration" Suresh observes sadly.

Immersion of idol after the specific puja day was all the more a sad occasion. To part with the lovely creation over which endless hours of labor are spent could be very painful. "So next year I want to make a clay idol not for worship but for preservation."

"Till then what will you do?" I nagged him. "I will stitch covers for pillows!" said my three-quarters-of-a-century old cousin who always finds pleasure in handiwork.