Temples decked up for festivities

Lucknow: The Devi temples across the city began getting all decked up for the navratri festivities beginning Wednesday and devotees were seen flocking the street side vendors selling materials required for performing rituals, especially the red chunris, on Tuesday.The Badi kali ji mandir in Chowk has set a 3,000 sq feet air-cooled and waterproof pandal for navratri where ‘mundan’ ceremony for children will be organized continuously for nine days along with a bhandara of both falihari and normal food items. “The Kumkum (red powder) from South India has been brought for the goddess whereas clothing items have been bought from Rajasthan and Gujarat. A Maha arti will be organized at 10am and 7pm daily. 3 LED screens will also be set around temple premises so that devotees can offer prayers even while standing in a queue,” said head priest of the temple Mahant Hansanand. At Chandrika Devi temple, a fair will be set for the devotees where the people will be able to shop from a variety of items. The fair will be open from 5am to 12am daily. “A maha arti will be organized at 7am and 8pm daily with a brass diya which includes 101 diyas in one. The clothes being offered to the idol on an everyday basis are made by the priest. Besides, a bhandara and prasad will remain open for the people from 5am to 12am,” said member of organizing committee Anurag Mishra. A ten-day celebration at Tulsi Shodh Sansthan will begin with a Sunderkand at 3pm on Wednesday. “Besides, cultural programmes will be organized on an everyday basis and on March 30 and March 31 Ram Janma will be depicted with the help of a dance drama,” said organizer Aditya Dwivedi.With the nine-day festival of navratri set to begin from Wednesday, many devotees were seen flocking the street side vendors selling materials required for performing rituals, especially the red chunris, on Tuesday.While some were looking for the plain cotton and net fabric chunris and vastras (clothing), many were seen bargaining for embroidered, sequins, mirror, beaded or zari work for the rituals this year. Pushpa Verma (55) picked up decorated chunris. “I bought a heavy work chunri along with clothes for the deity and earthen pot for growing jowar which is considered as a sign of wealth,” said Verma. Anita Srivastava (52) visited Bhoothnath Market to buy a dupatta.“When I go shopping I look for clothing items that catches my eye at the first sight. I did a similar thing while buying the chunri for my devi idol,” she said. Srinkhla (22) and Deepti (28), two friends who live as paying guests near Niralanagar, said they brought things required for havan. “Living away from home we try celebrating all the festivals here in the city. We will be performing a havan and fasting on the first and last day of navratri,” said Deepti. Shubhangi Gaur (35), who works as a teacher in a private school, was seen looking for clothing items for her Durga idol with her seven-year-old daughter Ritika. “I bought earthen pots for growing jowar which we will be decorating together along with some embroidered and zari embellished clothes for our idol,” said Gaur. This year the stone and mirror studded chunris are a special attraction among the people.