गणेश

Ganesha is an important Hindu deity.  He is the patron of the arts and sciences, and the removal of obstacles.  (Warning:  He sometimes puts the obstacles there himself...) You would recognize him because he has an elephant's head.  There is an idol of him in the Quik-E-Mart, and a sticker of him on my front door.  Several taxis I've been in had little Ganeshas by the windshield.  Ganesha is particularly beloved here in Mumbai, where his birthday is celebrated for ten days.   A multitude of Ganesha idols are constructed all over the city.  Larger ones are set up in little tent areas where you can come in, pray to him, and make donations.
At the end of the holiday, the statues are plunged into the sea, whereupon it is said that his spirit leaves the statues, to return the following year.  The Immersion is a huge event, and this year my officemate Frank and I went to Chowpatty Beach to check it out.  Now we had been warned that this scene is ridiculously crowded, and indeed taxi drivers refused to take us there.  So, we took a taxi to the Churchgate Train Station area, and walked about a mile and a half along the shore.  Huge parades of folks were coming and going.

These are the seaside apartments.  Check out the palm trees.

Off to watch the Immersion.

Large trucks housing Ganesha statues often had a crowd of young men chilling on the top of the vehicle, completely unafraid of falling off.  They zoomed by too quickly for me to take a picture.  By the way, I have yet to be in a vehicle with a functional seatbelt.
I should mention that on that day (Sept. 11th), we were still in monsoon season.  Ganesha's birthday was no exception, and most of the time it was pouring down rain as.  Nonetheless, when we go to the parade it was mostly dry, and the beach was full of excited people.

Every minute or so a family ran by escorting a little wagon with a little statue to the sea, shouting "Ganapati Bappa Moraya!".
Here is a video of a family about to send off their Ganesha:

But the main event was a big parade with a preponderance of large statues.  Each statue seemed to have some kind of theme, and they were usually sponsored by some organization.  Here are two videos I took:

Malabarista Ganesha was my favorite.

This went on all day, and had begun a few days before, even.  At some point it started pouring down rain.  Thousands of umbrellas opened up and it seemed like the entire crowd was "covered".  A couple guys sidled next to me and shared my umbrella.

We walked back to the Churchgate area and took a taxi.  The streets were filled with music and people dancing in front of more Ganesha statues, even in the rain.  It was fun!

Next:  The Island of Elephanta