Along with their gudi, citizens raise awareness, stay indoors

As the country celebrates Ugadi, Gudi Padwa, Navreh, Sajibu Cheiraoba and the beginning of Chaitra Navratri from Wednesday, community leaders and groups have been

As the country celebrates Ugadi, Gudi Padwa, Navreh, Sajibu Cheiraoba and the beginning of Chaitra Navratri from Wednesday, community leaders and groups have been urging their members to stay indoors and spend the festival with family.

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At Byculla, Mandar Niketan Utsav Mandal, a group which organises a rally every year to celebrate Gudi Padwa, called off the event last week after the number of coronavirus cases rose in the city.

Five members of the group hoisted a Gudi, wherein a silk scarf like cloth is tied to a bamboo, on their terrace as a symbolic celebration.

Around 400-500 people join the rally every year at Byculla.

“We can always have a new year celebration next year, but right now everyone needs to be safe. We had earlier thought that we won’t even put a gudi because of the curfew, but then five of us stood at a distance and performed the rituals,” said Subhash Talekar, resident, Mandar Niketan society.

The Kashmiri Pandit Association (KPA), which conducts the annual Zang Trei festival gathering for all the community members, has also cancelled the event and have planned to hold a jagrata once the pandemic ends. For Zang Trei or Navreh celebrations, which is the new year for Kashmiri Pandits, married women go back to their maternal house. However, this year families took blessings of their parents over video call.

“We had to switch to technology because we cannot step out,” said Ashish Dhar of KPA.

Even at Thane and Dombivli many celebrations were cancelled. The Shree Kopineshwar Mandir was closed and all Gudi Padwa celebrations were cancelled.The Ganesh Mandir Sansthan, Dombivli, also kept the Gudi Padwa rituals to a minimum within the temple premises.

With inputs from Ankita G Menon