Working as a Quality Control Officer in the Pharma industry , was a dream come true for me. I hail from the devout & dainty glacier of Yamunotri, and was the first woman in the family to be allowed to work. May sound surprising to many, but this is the reality for a large part of Indians. My service class parents took a giant leap of faith, allowing me to take up work, and I took it upon myself earn & learn, to help my overworked father retire sooner.
Growing up in Yamunotri, we saw faith in higher powers for everything in life. I sensed the potential my beautiful homeland holds to welcome millions of Hindus from across the world to experience the holiness of Char Dham. And my dream of building a homely stay option for visitors kept getting stronger. Life’s struggles don’t end with being financially secure, but it certainly helps along the way. And that box remined unticked for us for most of our growing years.
My upbringing taught me to choose faith over fear , and count Lord Shiv & Ganesha as your running mates for life. At every first of my life ie topping school, becoming a skilled professional , securing an illustrious job et al, I developed a habit of affirming my wishes to Ganesha. I’d confided in him, about my dream to build a resort in Yamunotri. He told me to hold that dream close to heart. I did – for 5 years.
My husband and I chipped in everything we had, and borrowed money from friends & family to start out. Ganesha stepped in, and heled us convince our family. Everything went fine for first few months but then we had severe crunch of funds and we had dried up all our sources. I applied for loans and got rejections everywhere. I had fear that the project won’t see light of the day as money had stopped completely. Our only hope was that God will figure out sth and had complete faith that things will turn out positive. Subconsciously everyday talks with Ganesha kept getting deeper – and I kept faith. We were just a few week away from Ganesh Chaturthi & the impossible loan, got approved. Even the loan manager was shocked that said it had to be an extraordinary intervention.
Its been 6 years since we’re running Rigveda – my dream resort in Yamunotri, and my best friend Ganesha’s been watching over it. Subconsciously , my two daughters have found a friend in Ganesha as well, and from the time they’ve met Lucky Ganesha, they keep him by their side in everything that they do.
Personally, I have wintnessed the team bring out the playful & glorious expressions of Bal -Ganesh, and I cannot wait for my two daughters to have a tangible source of hope in Lucky Ganesha.
It felt like a dream come true to be one of the earliest folks to preview what went in recreating Lucky Ganesha in a huggable form. For me, it’s the playful eyes, and the smile thorugh the trunk, that I always kept telling the Jai Jai team to bring out better. And I’m so happy that after a year of design & hand stitching improvisations, they have arrived at my best friend you see today.
All the best to the team. Cannot wait to share my Lucky Ganesha with everyone who needs good luck on their side 😊
