Monday was the celebration of Ganesha. I couldn't get much detailed information about the holiday from our driver so I turned to my trusty research source, Wikipedia:
Ganesha Chaturthi is the Hindu festival celebrated on the birthday (rebirth) of Lord Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati.
It is believed that Lord Ganesh bestows his presence on earth for all his devotees during this festival. It is the day when Ganesha was born. Ganesha is widely worshipped as the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune and traditionally invoked at the beginning of any new venture or at the start of travel. The festival, also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi ("festival of Ganesha") is observed in the Hindu calendar month of Bhaadrapada, starting on the shukla chaturthi (fourth day of the waxing moon period). The date usually falls between 19 August and 20 September. The festival lasts for 10 days, ending on Anant Chaturdashi (fourteenth day of the waxing moon period).
I mention this because I found a Ganesha "shrine" during my walk to the ATM this morning. In our development there is an ATM located at the entrance to the club house which is where most of the local employees begin their day. While there I found this:
It was dark and I was using an old iPhone to take the picture so I apologize for the poor quality. But, the center of the picture shows the Ganesh statue and all around the statue are blinking lights and the employees brought plates of food which are sitting in front of the statue. At the end of the celebration the Ganesha is brought to a local water source and submerged. Some Indians now submerge the Ganesha in bath tubs because the Ganesha actually cause harm and pollution to the local water supplies.
As a side note, our driver keeps a small Ganesha on the dashboard of our car because he believes it removes obstacles - a very good quality to have in Bangalore traffic :)
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