Rummy 365: Remembering Bappa on a Day Without a Game

Daily devotion can include a game wish without creating a daily obligation to play. Offer to Ganesha on Ishta Mel with the concerns of the day you actually have.

No game was planned for today. There is work to finish, a call to make and a quiet evening at home. At the time you usually remember Bappa, you feel like taking darshan as you ordinarily would.

There is no contradiction to resolve. For a Rummy 365 reader, a game may be one part of life brought into devotion. It need not become the condition for remembering Ganesha.

Today's offering can belong to today

Ganesha is revered for wisdom and auspicious beginnings. Those blessings are not confined to the start of a card game. A difficult conversation, a piece of work or an ordinary day's responsibilities may be what you bring before him now.

The Hindu American Foundation's introduction to puja describes devotion, gratitude and reciprocal respect, and notes that worship can be daily or occasional. Your own household practice supplies the familiar setting; a game schedule does not have to supply it.

Perhaps yesterday you prayed before learning a new grouping. Today you can simply say, “Bappa, I remember you. Please guide the work before me.” Nothing needs to be invented to make the day look like yesterday.

Three things that need not happen together

An everyday greeting honours Bappa. A prayer before a particular game asks his blessing for that beginning. Thanks afterwards remembers something actually experienced.

These are related expressions, but they are not a daily checklist. On a day with no game, there may be no new game beginning to bless and no fresh result to describe. The greeting can still be wholehearted.

Nor must you drop a longer-held wish. “When I next sit down to learn, help me understand patiently” makes room for a future occasion without requiring one tonight.

Modak before Bappa, an honest wish in the heart

At Ganesha's offering area on Ishta Mel, modak is displayed with durva, a red flower, coconut and deepak. Offer the whole group after darshan, with the day's real concerns in mind.

Bappa, accept my offering and my pranam. There is no game planned today. Bless the duties I have before me, and when a new opportunity to learn arrives, grant me a clear beginning and a willing mind.

This prayer has room for the game without making the rest of life wait for it.

Leave the evening open to its actual shape

You may close the page, return to your work and speak to your friends another day. The devotion has not been left unfinished because no cards were dealt. A day without a game need not become a debt to make up tomorrow.

The relationship expressed in “Ganpati Bappa” can remain familiar through busy days, quiet days and days when a game does happen. Today, simply bring today.