Mid Day

Mumbai, Mar 17: It could have been just another evening for devotees at the Shiva temple in Dadar’s Gurukripa society. But after one of them spotted a leaf shaped like Lord Ganesha’s head on one of the nearby trees, more than 2,000 people converged at the tiny temple within a couple of hours.

G S Parab, the temple’s trustee, told MiD DAY, “Yesterday being a Thursday, there were a lot of people. At 5 pm, a few devotees spotted this dry leaf on the tree next to the temple and called us. Slowly people began trickling in and between 10 pm and 1 am, there were more than 2,000 people waiting to see the leaf.”

Visitors were thrilled their favourite God was paying them a visit. Pragati Tapkir said, “This is wonderful. I have been coming to this temple for two years and never before have I seen such a thing.” According to Shantaram Shirke (56), the temple’s caretaker, “There is no mischief involved. Look at the leaf carefully and you will see how natural it is.”

According to Parab, the trustees will keep the leaf for a couple of days and will then perform a visarjan with full honours and fanfare.