TRULY, if it�s Tuesday, you must pay a visit to the Siddhivinayak Temple at Prabhadevi in Bombay. I believe if Lord Ganesha is present anywhere in this city of millions and of a hundred faiths, then He is here, in this two-centuries-old temple that has been renovated with granite, marble, steel, chrome and glass. It is a temple of miracles. You feel Lord Ganesh�s presence, you are struck by spiritual vibrations, as soon as you park your car outside the temple at Prabhadevi and look up at the golden kalash (the pointed dome) with its orange flag fluttering in the breeze. It is a nice feeling and a lovely sight. Just a devoted look at the kalash is like seeking His blessings. And you are enthused by a surge of hope, because Lord Ganesh�s blessings are invariably invoked at the start of anything new in anybody�s life. Which is why in Hinduism, he is recognised as the Vighnaharta, the destroyer of all obstacles.

There is a feeling of festivity all through the year at Prabhadevi. In the lane by the side of the Siddhivinayak Temple, rows of shops sell flowers, coconuts, modaks, pedhas and other sweetmeats that the faithful offer Ganpati as prasad on Tuesday. The Maharashtra government, rightly recognising the importance of the temple as a place of worship and of tourist interest, has built a small police station outside it that looks after security and law and order in the vicinity. Not that there is lawlessness here. The devotees are patient people. They will stand in serpentine queues for hours on the road outside in all kinds of weather just for a darshan of the Siddhivinayak Ganpati. And this, in several cases, after having walked for miles overnight to get to Prabhadevi. Their simple faith and unshaking belief, moved me. And I was conscious that what I was visiting was more than a place of historical importance and archeological significance. It was Lord Ganesh�s address in Bombay.

To enter the Siddhivinayak Temple, there are four separate queues. Devotees are split up into men and women. And there is a VIP queue that gets a quicker and closer darshan for a nominal fee of Rs. 50. The fourth queue does not take the devotee into the sanctum sanctorum housing the deity, but passes through the temple and darshans are done from a distance. I was lucky. I got invited to the most prominent altar of the temple, where the 1801 black stone idol of Lord Ganesh is faithfully invoked and dedicatedly worshipped by millions from across the country. It is a 2.5 feet high and 2 feet wide idol with the trunk on the right. The upper right hand holds a lotus, the left an axe; the lower right hand holds a string of prayer beads, and the lower left a modak. The idol is carved out of a single stone. Etched on its forehead is an eye which resembles the third eye of Lord Shiva. And it is flanked by the idols of Riddhi and Siddhi, the Goddesses of sanctity, success, riches and prosperity.

The Siddhi-vinayak Temple, the history of Bombay tells me, was first consecrated on November 19, 1801. It was then a small structure housing the black stone idol of Lord Ganesh. The sanctum sanctorum was altered many times, giving way, finally, to the monolithic and magnificent structure that towers over Prabhadevi today. This was accomplished with a series of rituals that lasted a fortnight. And the consecration ceremonies culminated with the �kalash pratishthapana� and �kumbha-bhishek� ceremony at the hands of His Holiness Jagadguru Shree Shankaracharya of Shree Shardepeeth Shringeri Shree 1008 Bharti Tirth Mala Swami on June 13, 1994. The kalash which adorned the earlier temple and is of great religious significance, was lowered ceremoniously and is now kept as an exhibit within the temple�s premises. The idol of Lord Ganesh was not touched in the process of rebuilding the temple, an exercise carried out after deliberations with experts on Hindu religion and customs.

I got my darshan of the deity, gratefully accepted the prasad that head priest Gajanand Modak and his deputy, Chintamani Karambekar, offered me, and stepped outside one of the three doors of the �gabhara� (sanctum sanctorum) to bump into Ekta Kapoor. She is, I know, Ganpati�s big bhakt in Bombay. And I was pleased to see her simply attired, carrying prasad, and like one face among the many in the throng of devotees seeking darshan of Shree Siddhivinayak. Darshan can be got from the three doors of the gabhara, from a stage constructed some distance away, and from a mezzanine floor with a viewers� gallery that has been constructed in symmetry with the gabhara, thus enabling scores of devotees to seek Lord Ganesha�s blessings from there. �This is the most important day of the week for me,� Ekta said. �No matter what my work schedule, if I am in Bombay, I must come to the Siddhivinayak Temple for darshan. I have on occasion, even walked from home in Juhu to Prabhadevi. I have blind faith in Lord Ganesh.�

My darshan of Lord Ganesh done, I got a guided tour of the temple complex courtesy Mr. Sanjay Bhagwat, the CEO of the Shree Siddhivinayak Ganpati Mandir Nyas Trust. The first floor of the five-storied structure is the darshan gallery otherwise also used for performing pujas. The executive offices are on the second floor in which the supervisor�s includes a monitor room housing a complete close-circuit television unit, a rest room for the priests, and a kitchen where the maha-naivedya is prepared. The naivedya is a silver platter bearing the offerings of the kitchen that is first placed before Lord Ganesh and then brought and distributed among the priests and other employees of the temple. There is a lift connecting the kitchen with the gabhara which is used exclusively by the priests bearing the naivedya. The third floor houses administrative offices of the temple trust, a conference room and information technology centre. The fourth floor has a library with 8,500 books on a wide range of subjects from engineering to religion, a reading room and study. And the fifth floor is where in a large kitchen the 5,000 laddoos that are distributed and sold per day as prasad, are made.

I came down and walked through the Siddhivinayak Temple once again on my way out, unwilling to leave this fascinating place of worship, overwhelmed by the sights all around me. People of all ages and all religions, irrespective of their faiths, bowing their heads in reverence and worship towards the deity of Lord Ganesh in the gabhara. Some lying prostrate on the floor in supplication. Others kneeling with joined hands and closed eyes. Most devotees stop by the silver mouse to offer it prasad and whisper their prayer in its ear. I watched people do this with such sincerity and earnestness, that it did something to me, and I joined the faithful and invoked Lord Ganesh�s blessings through a small prayer whispered in the ear of his trusted servant � the mouse. I came out onto the main Prabhadevi Road, where policemen were politely and gently moving the people along, and where helpful volunteers offered passers-by prasad and small pictures of the deity inside. And the last thing I did before I stepped into my Qualis and drove away, was take a devoted look at the gold-plated kalash on top of the Siddhivinayak Temple. It is a memory I will carry with me until the next time I call at the temple and seek Lord Ganesh�s blessings.