Ganesha has the power to bring one of India's most populated cities to a halt

As a child, I always thought of Lord Ganesha as a slightly tragic figure, having read the Amar Chitra Katha comic about his birth — how Ganesha was created from the remains of ubtan of his mother's body and infused with life, and how he lost his head to Lord Shiva's wrath, only to have it replaced by the head of the first living creature Shiva's ganas came across in the forest. Turned out the poor boy would spend his life and the eternity that is popular mythology with a one-tusked-elephant's head on him. I thought it was a grave tragedy, for a poor boy who was merely obeying his mother.