WASH YOUR SINS IN GANESHA'S NAME!

"Sarva Vighnopa Shantaye." With most of the Ganesha statues now adorning
the pandals, the prayaschit is over for the idol makers in Dhoolpet and
they all are now confident that the Lord will save them from the cops and
excise sleuths. And after a couple of days' rest, they will all go back to
their original profession -- brewing country-made illicit liquor, popularly
known as Gudumba, and rolling out ganja (marijuana). The same fingers that
gave the Elephant God shape, will now rub Ganja to produce 'Hash-Oil'.
Making the idols, they say, is a purgatorial ritual for them, in other
words a sort of Pushkarams.

"Most of us are involved in the illicit liquor and ganja trade. That's our
main profession. It's only for Ganesh Chaturthi that we leave everything
and make idols. This is not something that we do for profit. It's a ritual
that we are following for ages. Lord Ganesha will now protect us through
out the year," says Rajesh, an idol maker, who was very happy with the
response as all the idols that he made found takers. "In comparison to last
year the response is good. All my idols were sold," he adds.

And yes, Lord Ganesha does listen to their prayers. In spite of it being an
open secret, Dhoolpet still maintains its numero uno status in illicit
liquor and marijuana. Repeated raids by excise and police department have
failed to stop the trade.

"I've stopped brewing liquor for more than a month now. After a few days I
will again doing that. I have done my prayaschit by making idols of Lord
Ganesha," he says. "I know that brewing liquor is bad but what can I do.
Neither idols can give me my bread nor has the government given us any
alternative. Our kids will do the same," says a sexagenarian idol maker,
whose entire family is into Gudumba trade.

Both liquor and idol trades are here to stay. Ganesh Powar, a local youth,
says, "It's not that there is no education here. The money that they get
from liquor business is hard to resist." And idols? "That's part of our
tradition. How can we leave that," he adds. Liquor and spirituality rarely
go together, but at Dhoolpet they co-exist or should we say they help each
other exist.