NEW YORK (TIP): Amidst chanting of mantras, dance by devotees, live nadaswaram music and oozing of devotion by hundreds of devotees, the annual ratha yatra of Lord Ganesha, the presiding deity of Maha Vallabha Ganapathy Devasthanam in Flushing was held last week. Elected officials – New York City Comptroller John Liu, New York State Senator Tony Avela and Deputy Queens Borough President Barry Grodenchik – represented the city and state governments at the major festival of Hindus in Queens. S Kasim and s Babu, grandsons of legendary nathaswaram player Sheikh Chinna Maulana, were flown in from the holy temple town of Srirangam in Tamil Nadu to perform live nathaswaram music at the ratha yathra as also during the ten-day festival in which over 30,000 devotees thronged the temple to witness different alankarams including gold kavacham (the Lord draped in mould made out of pure gold). Food prasadams were given to all the devotees during the day and more than 50,000 food packets were distributed during the festival season.