Ganpati Visarjan

Toward sunset ahead of a near-full moon, the tide far out on the Arabian Sea, Ganpati marches shoreward.

Carried through the streets on trucks surrounded by throbbing drums, hoisted at the beachhead on a multitude of shoulders, carted across the sand to the edge, then towed, bobbing on the waves, by Zodiac.

Ganpati topples into the water.

Sinking slowly, he takes away our worry.

Dissolves by water and salt into the sand.

The scene at Juhu Beach, Mumbai, tonight.

##