A Correspondent –
More than 75 people attended Ganesh Chaturthi at the family home of Shirish Paranjape on September 5, 2016.
Among them were members of the Indian community and two special guests – Coline Dumont of Belgium and Aino Antikainen of Finland, both international exchange students at Burnside High School.
The Paranjape family has been celebrating the Birthday of Lord Ganesha since 2002.
“The number of devotees and guests has been steadily growing. My wife Manik was preparing food at home but with the rise in the number of guests, we arranged outside catering for the first time this year. An increasing number of families are now celebrating Ganapati Bappa’ s Birthday every year in their homes,” Mr Paranjape said.
Unique experience
Coline said: “It was a unique experience – about 75 people in a house, singing and clapping to honour their God. It was quite impressive and noisy! These lovely Indian people were in their traditional dresses, and prayed for the welfare of all. The Paranjape family hosted the two of us, who do not even belong to their religion or culture. They made us welcome; we thought we were with our own family We learnt a lot about Hindu religion and values.”
Photo:
- Lord Ganesha at the Paranjape home
- Guests on Ganesh Chaturthi Day- Shirish Paranjape is on the back row third from right; Aino Antikainen and Coline Dumont are standing extreme right and extreme left
