Sec’bad wears a carnivalesque look for Bonalu festivities

The streets of

Secunderabad

came alive on Sunday as lakhs of devotees made their way to the Sri

Ujjaini Mahakali temple

for the annual festival of

Bonalu

.

The narrow gullies leading up to the temple reverberated with the festive teen maar beats — a welcome respite from the usual cacophony of the heavy traffic in the area. It was a visual feast as the area transformed into a riot of colours.

Pothurajus danced around brandishing their whips while the womenfolk and Shiva Sathalu made their way to the temple carrying bonalu on their heads. The devotees queued up for hours to catch a glimpse of Goddess

Mahakali

and offer their prayers.

VIPs, including Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, turned up to make their presence felt. Dressed in colourful Telangana weaves, the women folk walked up to the temple with their offerings, making pitstops every now and then to pose for pictures and click selfies. Colourful ghattams, bedecked with shiny paper cutouts and tassels, were carried by the male devotees, as an offering to the Goddess.

The highlight however, were the Pothurajus. Their bodies smeared with turmeric and faces painted to make them look ferocious, they swayed to the beats of dappu and oggu dolu, even as the crowds cheered for them.
— Sravan.Vanaparthy@timesgroup.com