Things you find in the lake!? [Archive]

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winni wanderer

10-04-2009, 08:07 PM

This weekend we happened to rent to a nice Indian family. Not knowing much about their religion we made a terrible mistake. It all started with a boat ride, or so we thought it was going to be a boat ride. Walking down the dock we noticed in the water what seemed to be a Mcdonalds bag. So we hopped on the boat and drove over to the bag to retrieve it from the lake. Thinking the worst of our Indian friends for having littered in the lake.It turns out it was not a Mcdonalds bag at all. It was " Lord Ganesha" If your not sure what this is like me (until I researched it) i will tell you. It turns out this weekend I think is the Hindu Holiday known as "Ganesh Chaturthi". This holiday it turns out requires them to create a clay statue 2 to 3 months prior to this holiday of "Lord Ganesha" which gets paraded thru town and you got it ......GETS THROWN IN THE LAKE. So here we are fishing this Deity/statue out of the lake thinking its a Mcdonalds bag. Having reached in the water to retrieve it I soaked my shirt sleeve. So I took my shirt off. So now I'm standing on the boat no shirt holding "Lord Ganesha". Noticing that my girlfriend is wearing a turtleneck under her sweatshirt I asked her to let me wear the turtleneck until my shirt dried. She obliged by lifting up her sweatshirt to remove her turtleneck and ducked down further to remove the turtleneck.so here we are me with no shirt holding "lord Ganesha" and my girlfriend with her shirt up over her head and what do I see but the nice Indian family looking out the window at us. "WANT TO GET AWAY" We had no idea until we researched this what we had done. Is there anybody out there who knows more about this holiday and what should we do with "Lord Ganesha" now? Do we throw him back in as protocol my suggest or is that littering the lake. What do we do? Things you find in the lake.

Jidge

10-04-2009, 08:19 PM

Regardless of what it is, nothing should be thrown in the lake. You did the right thing. The next religion will want to sprinkle Holy oils in and so on. Nothing against religious customs but they shouldn't infringe on everyone around them,not to mention the wildlife in the lake.

Coolbreeze

10-04-2009, 08:20 PM

I could be humorous and say to heck with the statue... could you post some shots of the girlfriend; but i'll pass. (All respect intended) Well if this thing is like the Tiki Statue from the Brady Bunch I would get rid of it or you might have bad luck for a long time.

Bigstan

10-04-2009, 08:26 PM

This is still NH, right? PC should not be an issue. And I actually know the answer to this -

At the end of this particular festival/tradition the Lord Ganesha idol is to be tossed into the sea. A sea is not a a lake, so hand it back to them and ask them to try again. Or -

A bag has no bearing here (there were no McDonalds type bags during the advent of this tradition) so hand it back and say sorry, did you mean to toss this? 3rd option - dump the idol in the lake and wait to see if they ask to rent from you next year. If not you made them mad, if so they are ok with it.

-- Title edit (it can't be edited) - should read PC way too far (I hate bad grammar)
-- OK, I had bad grammar twice, to my unending shame...2nd edit

NH_boater

10-04-2009, 09:01 PM

^ Grammar. Just kidd'n.

chipj29

10-05-2009, 06:43 AM

Sorry about your dilemma, but that is a pretty funny story. Religion or not, littering is littering.

angela4design

10-05-2009, 07:27 AM

Funny story, and how awkward! Thanks for sharing

I wonder if that is WHY they came to visit the lake?

Argie's Wife

10-05-2009, 07:37 AM

Thanks for the laugh - oh my! :laugh:

This sounds like a great sit-com...

Yosemite Sam

10-05-2009, 07:54 AM

Here is what I would have done:

Knock Knock…....Hi, this is winni wanderer and I found this (whatever it is) in the water and I was wondering if you know who discarded it.

Possible reply from Indian couple: Yes (and they go on to explain that they did it and why).

winni wanderer: We have what is called the DES (tell them about the DES and any local laws) which outlaws throwing trash in any body of water in NH.

Possible reply from Indian couple: ?

Pineedles

10-05-2009, 09:59 AM

EEt iz not trash. Ett iz Cobra!:laugh:

Yosemite Sam

10-05-2009, 10:22 AM

EEt iz not trash. Ett iz Cobra!:laugh:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

dpg

10-05-2009, 10:44 AM

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I totally don't get it. :(

Argie's Wife

10-05-2009, 10:55 AM

Okay. Yes, I have better things to be doing today but curiosity got the best of me... as usual...

From Wikipedia, Ganesha, Worship and Festivals:

Ganesh Chaturthi

An annual festival honours Ganesha for ten days, starting on Ganesh Chaturthi, which typically falls in late August or early September.[129]

The festival culminates on the day of Ananta Chaturdashi, when images (murtis) of Ganesha are immersed in the most convenient body of water.[130]

In 1893, Lokmanya Tilak transformed this annual Ganesha festival from private family celebrations into a grand public event.[131]

He did so "to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and find an appropriate context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them" in his nationalistic strivings against the British in Maharashtra.[132]

Because of Ganesha's wide appeal as "the god for Everyman", Tilak chose him as a rallying point for Indian protest against British rule.[133]

Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in pavilions, and he established the practice of submerging all the public images on the tenth day.[134]

Today, Hindus across India celebrate the Ganapati festival with great fervour, though it is most popular in the state of Maharashtra.[135][136] The festival also assumes huge proportions in Mumbai and in the surrounding belt of Ashtavinayaka temples.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/Ganesh_utsav.jpg

It doesn't say, as best I know, that he has to stay submerged... maybe they forgot to get him out of the lake, like we forget to take down the Christmas tree until mid-January.... :D

Yosemite Sam

10-05-2009, 11:08 AM

I totally don't get it. :(

Watch this and then you might get it.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vw6RgIf6epQ&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vw6RgIf6epQ&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

winni wanderer

10-05-2009, 11:06 PM

I haven't laughed so hard in a while. I'm ww Girl-friend. I just recently moved here from Derry, Big Island Pond which has always been my own little kid paradise. (how wrong was I ) Mr ww has always told me about here and I guessed I doubted him and now take it back with every morning I see the fog lift and the sun rise How blessed are we?
As far as lord genesha I'm not sure what he/shes fate will be It, for now will sit at the front of our pontoon awaiting his path home unless ( I'm sorry cool breeze if he publishes pics of my ta ta's he and lord Ganesha will find out what the bottom of the broads look like) you guys are awesome

SAMIAM

10-06-2009, 07:50 AM

CrawfordCentury

10-06-2009, 09:17 AM

I thought the water level looked a little higer.

Never thought to consider central NH's bourgeoning Hindi-speaking population as the culprit. To be sure, the cubic volume of all those mini effigies does add up. :rolleye2:

winni wanderer

10-06-2009, 11:36 AM

Your guests were a little misguided....I'm assuming they are Hindu's which means they should have done their ceremony at the Ganges river, not a lake in America. As I remember from a story about India, the Ganges is their most holy river. Problem is, it's used for a sewer, chemical and garbage dump as well as a graveyard. I guess if you want them to feel comfortable next year....maybe sprinkle a little garbage, oil and a few bloated corpses on the beach........just kidding:D

SAMIAM : Thats funny you mentioned the Ganges River. On there last day of renting the house, before finding "Lord Ganasha" in the lake they asked me if i would like them to bring the linens down to the lake. At first i didn't understand why i would want them to do that. "No i said just drop it off at the washer and dryer area" Then my girlfriend reminded me of there culture again. I guess they wash cloths in ganges river to. "Wow" what a lesson in culture shock !!!!

Lakesrider

10-06-2009, 05:18 PM

Wow. Why don't we go up and bitch slap a few folks from India.....
I mean seriously. How dare they bring their false gods to America and desecrate OUR lake with their statues. Damn...where's my gun?

Maybe a reminder....I wonder what the native Americans think about what we have done to THEIR lake?

A little tolerance folks....

Yosemite Sam

10-06-2009, 05:50 PM

Lakesrider

10-06-2009, 06:24 PM

Well you could, however I have no idea what that has to do with anything in this thread. They were simply practicing their religion in our country and by going and eating one of their cows you would be going against their religion in their country. Not the wisest choice. But, if you wanted to eat a cow in India, Go to the Northern part. It is more allowed, and less vegetarians in the north. More Vegetarians in the south. Plus, I am not so sure that cows in India would be the best to eat. They look a little thin to me. I would prefer a good free range Texas bovine. Maybe from Longhorns.......

Yosemite Sam

10-06-2009, 06:28 PM

But, if you wanted to eat a cow in India, Go to the Northern part. It is more allowed, and less vegetarians in the north. More Vegetarians in the south.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll keep that in mind. :)

SAMIAM

10-06-2009, 07:26 PM

Lakesrider is right......some times we're too quick to find fault with customs that we don't understand.Now that I think about it,there was really no harm done........:(

Argie's Wife

10-07-2009, 08:05 AM

Sorry but I didn't take WW's initial post as being nasty - it was about being in a compromising situation and about the difference between the two cultures. I didn't take it that there was any real harm in what happened - more like "What's that?" and "Ohhhhhhh! Now what do I do?!" He assumed something and then found out otherwise - he was trying to do the right thing.

In my opinion, the intent isn't a "nasty" one but a very human one - ever try to do the right thing (pick up litter) only to have it suddenly become compromising?

...............
Quick story:
My husband's family is all from Greece and they are Greek Orthodox. They have a custom of keeping a little lamp that is shaped like a red flame (but bigger than those Christmas candles we place in our windows) as a memorial to a family member that died.

Well, I didn't know what it was and one day when I was at hubby's aunts' house, helping to re-arrange some furniture for them, I suggested they move the lamp. Big mistake. I got a quick education that day but my suggestion wasn't done with the intent to be offensive - it was innocent but ignorant (unlearned). It won't happen again.
...............

I'd bet that after WW's incident that he'll think twice about lifting a "bag of litter" out of the lake. One man's assumed bag of litter may just be another man's deity.

winni wanderer

10-08-2009, 11:04 PM

I could not believe i stumbled across this article after all the discussion about finding "Lord Ganesha" in the lake. Wait til' you read this !!!! Go to: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/30/india.idols.pollution/index.html :eek:

LakeSnake

10-09-2009, 11:59 AM

And that's why throwing anything into the lake is illegal. Or washing anything in it too.

burnsies

10-11-2009, 07:08 PM

Religion or not its littering.
If I did that and was caught I am sure I would be ticketed.
Why did they need a bag?
Are you sure it wasnt a happy meal toy? :look:

winni wanderer

10-12-2009, 11:30 AM

Religion or not its littering.
If I did that and was caught I am sure I would be ticketed.
Why did they need a bag?
Are you sure it wasnt a happy meal toy? :look:

:laugh::laugh::laugh: There was not a bag. I initailally thought it was a McDonalds bag because the colors are similair to the "Lord Ganasha" statue. I agree trash is trash but alot of bad things are done in the name of someones god. Hence the" Taliban "( No i am not comparing this to the actions of the ''Taliban" )