Poetry: Lord Ganesh Wants to Travel

Lord Ganesh wanted to travel. You don’t

say no to Lord Ganesh. I said of course.

First he wanted to go to Burning Man.

At the start of his birthday celebration

a few days after the new moon in August

I made Him into clay.  To travel to

Burning Man I put him in a sheer red

bag filled with lavender buds. I didn’t

know if he liked it but he didn’t complain.

Lord Ganesh said he wanted to go to

Burning Man because on the final day

of his birthday celebration it would

be a full moon at Burning Man and he

wanted to ride around on the playa

forget about being dunked in a river.

He’d get to Kailash when he was ready.

Lord Ganesh wanted people to know it

was His birthday so we made stickers which

we passed out and told everyone we met

they should celebrate Him that day and they

told us they would. Lord Ganesh was so happy

a rocket launched and fireworks went off.

Then Lord Ganesh wanted to go to Europe.

OK I said, show me the way. Together

we wrote an essay and we almost won

the contest. You don’t believe, he said. I

can’t do all the work myself, he said.

Europe is far away, he said.

When we found out the winner wasn’t going

he said I told you so. This is your chance.

You know what to do. You have to make this.

OK Ganesh, I will put my heart here.

A few days later, Lord Ganesh and I

cleared obstacles like traffic the length of

Wilshire Buelevard and I had my birth

certificate in my hands for the first

time in my life. The next day I picked up

my passport on the way to the airport.

We were on a plane to Portugal.

Lord Ganesha gloated on the plane.

When we got to Lisbon, Lord Ganesha

wanted to walk around. He wanted to

see the Atlantic. But you can’t let an

elephant headed man stroll city streets

by himself and I had a conference.

The best I could do was get us a room

on the 12^th floor facing east, a park, a

bullfighting stadium, the ocean.

I thought the room was nice but he thought not.

When Ganesh the Remover of Obstacles

is displeased, well you can imagine it

is harder to keep things running smoothly.

For example, the internet kept failing.

He would nudge me saying see, let’s go now.

That’s when he would laugh. Lord Ganesh has a

big belly and his laugh is full of love.

He didn’t attend any of the conference sessions.

We wanted to walk to dinner but the

conference organizers made us jump

in a cab which got lost going to the restaurant

on the highest hill in Lisbon. Ganesh

liked it there. We could be outside upstairs and

down and he liked that so much we barely

spent any time inside the restaurant.

This meant I didn’t get to eat much.

Ganesh didn’t mind this at all because

He doesn’t eat much. He doesn’t drink much

either but as this was a Wine bloggers

Conference I did. Which he didn’t mind as

long as I was able to walk back.

He made sure that I could because I couldn’t

find much wine I wanted to drink.

The sidewalks in Lisbon are made of limestone

polished by the footsteps of thousands of feet.

At night it is warm and clean and safe and

there are trees everywhere. The moon shined full.

For Lord Ganesha every moon is a

celebration, a new adventure.

I picked up a smooth square stone, dislodged from

the pavement, put it in my pocket.

Next Ganesh and I went to a cork forest

He wanted to see a lynx, the last wild

feline in Europe and very endangered.

There were too many people with us, and

some men hunting with dogs. The best we could do

was see storks, go for a horse drawn carriage ride,

have rain in the desert—a good trick.

What Lord Ganesh really wanted to see

was a castle. We drove east to the

Alentejo where we had a room in

Evora with a view of an aquaduct

made by the Romans. Lord Ganesh was happy.

The pool was lit with colored lights. We

opened the door to let in the wind and rain.

Like most elephants, Lord Ganesh loves water.

The bathtub was large enough even for him.

On our fourth day, Lord Ganesh got his castle.

Not just any castle, but Monsarez

on the highest hill in Alentejo

swimming in views of the largest reservoir

in Europe, vineyards, pastures, olive orchards.

He liked to stand between the stone turrets

and to peek through where men would put canons.

If Ganesh took photos, he would have filled

His memory card. But He is part

elephant, and a Hindu deity.

He remembers everything.

We have one more day here, then two days in

Lisbon. I have promised him we will see

the ocean. He says he has a surprise

for me.

 

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For wonderful drawings of Lord Ganesha, check out Rajan Draws.