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LUCKNOW, INDIA: December 2003: Dr. Chandra Balasubramanium’s living room looks like a museum. She boasts of having the largest collection of Lord Ganesha idols in India — 480 exquisite Ganeshas collected over 22 years. The collection includes Lord Ganesha’s icons made in gold, silver, copper, ivory, marble, amethyst, plastic, mud, rose wood, fibre, sandal, crystal, Bohemian glass, log wood, wax, khus and white wood. Every statue is different from the other in shape, size, use of material and “Bhavas” or “Mudras” of the Lord. There are 32 divine forms of Lord Ganesha according to religious scriptures and she can recall all of them on her finger tips. This Diwali she has enriched her collection with a unique Lord Ganesha made of supari (betel-nut) and Haldi (turmeric). She also has Ganeshas made of tiger-eye, agate, turquoise, soft stone, serpentine stone, jade, God stone, coral and pearl. The largest one weighs 50 kgs while the smallest one measures just one centimeter and is as light as a feather. Dr. Subramanium has travelled all over India and around the world to enrich her collection. She once met an American couple who told her that although they were Christians, they worshipped Lord Ganesha and Goddess Laxshmi. They were willing to offer a huge sum of money for just one exquisite piece which she had, but Dr. Balasubramanium refused the handsome offer. Dr. Subramanium hopes that in the next 20 years her collection will grow to over 5,000. “Lord Ganesh is my passion. I don’t mind that a large part of my earnings are spent in buying Lord Ganeshas,” she says. She believes that positive energies from so many Ganeshas make her house vibrant. She says that the sanctified ambience of her living room can keep ailments away provided one has deep faith in Lord Ganesha.