Bhopal: Kites fill sky, fragrance of jaggery-sesame spreads in the air

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Bhopal celebrated the harvest festival for two days this year, Friday and Saturday, mostly staying at home and avoiding large public gatherings in view of corona-related restrictions.

The skies were filled with kites and the elders distributed sesame sweets to their family members to celebrate Makar Sankranti. Few of Bhopalites stepped out to take a holy dip in the river to celebrate the occasion.

Sadhna Tyagi, an elderly woman residing in Rachna Nagar area, said, ìWe celebrated the festival by donating winter clothes and sweets made of sesame and jaggery among slum dwellers that live behind our colony. Covid-19 has put a stop to every festivity and the best celebration right now is helping the needy.

Many devotees flocked to temples including Bhojpur and Gufa Mandir. The administration ensured that a limited number of devotees enter the temples at a time to avoid overcrowding.

Marathi community celebrated Sankranti, worshipping the small pots that were filled with sesame, fruits and new grains. Nisha Badwe, who had come to celebrate the festival at Maharashtra community Bhawan in Rachna Nagar, said, We have organised small scale Haldi-Kumkum function as large gatherings are banned in view of Covid-19. We exchange sweets among each other and have brunch to welcome the new season.

The office-bearer of Malayali association C Ashokan said, We celebrate the harvest festival as Makar Vilakku. A Ganapati Homa (hawan) and Neya Abhishekam were performed keeping up the tradition of Keralaís Sabarimala temple. We sum up our celebration as we enjoy homemade Pongal, a rice dish.

They had gathered at Ayyappa Temple in Malayalee Samaj-Sivaji Nagar. The attraction was an Aarti performed with 108 earthen lamps. The Tamil community in Bhopal celebrated Pongal with their priest Ramanujam Shastri at Malai Swamy Temple at 12 number stop in Arera colony.

They lit lamps in the temple. Similar events were organised at Balaji temple of Barkheda and Sharda temple located at 5 number stop. At Narayan Mission Ashram located in Subhash Nagar, a series of earthen lamp was aligned to perform an Aarti. The devotees worshipped Narayan Guru on this occasion.