Yono Arcade: Ganesha's Blessing for the Player Who Moves Second

Honouring Ganesha first does not require taking the first turn in a game. Understand the two orders and offer a prayer for your own beginning.

You remember Bappa before beginning, take your seat, and discover that your friend will make the first move. Has your auspicious beginning somehow become less auspicious?

For a Yono Arcade reader, the worry comes from two different meanings of “first”. One concerns whom you honour at the beginning of an undertaking. The other concerns who acts first under a game's rules. Putting them together creates an unnecessary worry for the second player.

First in reverence

Ganesha is welcomed as a remover of obstacles and a guardian of beginnings. The Ganesh Chaturthi introduction from Incredible India describes the devotion surrounding him.

On Ishta Mel, the devotional path invites the visitor to begin with Ganesha before moving towards a particular intention. That order belongs to your approach to worship. Remembering him first gives the beginning a recipient: you place the undertaking before Bappa.

It says nothing about taking a move away from another player.

Second in a game

Consider a chess board with the pieces in their initial positions. Your friend has White and you have Black. Under FIDE's basic rules, Article 1.2, White begins and the players then alternate.

Your friend's first move becomes part of the position you must answer. That is how your participation begins: by receiving the opening move and choosing a response. You have not missed your beginning because someone else's action came before it.

Changing the turn order to feel more fortunate would confuse the two matters. You can honour Ganesha before play and still wait for Black's proper turn. The prayer and the game's order fit comfortably together.

Bring your own first step to Bappa

At Ganesha's offering area on Ishta Mel, modak, durva, red flower, coconut and deepak form the displayed group. Take darshan and offer the group with your coming participation in mind.

ॐ गं गणपतये नमः

Ganapati Bappa, please accept my offering. Bless my beginning, including the patience to wait for my turn and the wisdom to meet the position that comes to me. Remove the confusion that makes me mistake another person's first step for the loss of my own.

You need not wait until your hand is already on a piece to make this prayer. The offering belongs to your sincere preparation; the move belongs to the turn the rules give you.

An opening is also a welcome

Once the first move appears, look at what it changes. Your beginning now has something concrete to respond to. The wish for wisdom becomes useful at that exact point: may you see the position clearly and enter the game attentively.

For the Yono Arcade reader, “Bappa first” can remain a warm expression of reverence. It need not become a race against a friend for the first turn.

Ganapati Bappa Morya. May your own beginning be blessed, whenever your turn arrives.