Is religion an excuse to create nuisance in India?

I don't intend to hurt anybody's religious sentiments via this. This is just something that has been troubling me for a while now. I am a student in South Mumbai and the recently concluded Ganesh festival has left me disturbed more than anything. The amount of inconvenience that was caused to people was immense. Traffic was brought to a grinding halt on the four days of the visarjan. The noise pollution levels were prepostrous. The pollution that the immersions would have caused in the sea would have wreaked havoc in an already polluted ocean around Mumbai. The sea life would be destroyed like this.

This does not apply to only hindus or muslims or Sikhs or Christians. Everyone uses religion to his or her advantage. The politicians, film makers, everyone fools us in the name of religion. But the question that always troubles me is whether all of us know what religion truly is. I am sure Jihad does not mean merciless slaughter of innocent beings. I am sure Ganesh ji did not want to harm his own creations. The Hindus kill Muslims and vice versa. Why does this happen? Do we actually understand religion?

No, we don't. We interpret religion in our own way and our interpretations; well most of them if not grossly incorrect are grossly mislead. Who do we trust; the priest in the temple, the gurudwara, the mosque? I think we should trust our own heads. Think for once; is all this nuisance worth it. Loving your god is totally just but God never wants a big bang. God always wants it to be solemn and inconvenient. What do you think?