IT Consultant Sujata Bhatia tells ITBizFocus.com about her hobby – collecting Ganesha idols and figurines and how worshiping Ganesha gives her the encouragement to move ahead in life.

Right from my childhood, I have been worshiping Lord Ganesha. Being born and brought up in a traditional Hindu family in Gujarat, we naturally learn to worship a number of gods and goddesses, but I was always fascinated by Ganesha’s forms and postures and he occupies a special place in my heart.

Ganesha occupies a special place in my heart

I don’t remember exactly when I first started collecting Ganesha figurines and how it developed into a hobby, but whenever I used to get Ganesha as a gift item or as a token of blessing, I neatly arranged them on my cupboard. By the time I finished college, I found myself having a good number of Ganesha idols – some made of clay, some stone and some terracotta.

Then my family moved into a new apartment in Ahmadabad, which was quite spacious. My mom and I started decorating it with different kinds of showpieces. At our previous house in Gandhinagar, there was a space crunch and we never got the right opportunity to decorate our corners and showcase the way we wanted to. It was only after we shifted to the new apartment that we started collecting Ganesha idols of different shapes, size and texture – all fitted so neatly on the wall and showcases.

Until now, I have collected some 200 unique idols of Ganesha that occupies a place of pride in my living room. These are made of silver enamel, bronze, dokra, terracotta, crystal sandalwood and they come in different shapes and sizes. Some of them are of the size of my palm, and some even smaller. There are also the larger varieties at home like the sandstone Ganesha that is placed right in front of the main door. I look for unique postures, dancing Ganesha, the lord playing some instruments, Ganesha in meditation and so on.

These days I try to shop for newer forms of Ganesha from not only in India but also other parts of the world and have some unique collections from Dubai, Sri Lanka, Thailand and South Africa.

I also keep getting gifts that center round Shri Ganesha – idols, masks, head bands, books, CDs and many more. Worshiping Ganesha and collecting his figurines give me the encouragement to move on in life.

(As told to Hareeni Mageswaran)