Hyderabad Gets Ready To Bid Farewell To Ganesha
The streets will be taken over by nimajjanam processions that will stretch late into the night, maybe even Sunday night.
Hyderabad:Hyderabad will turn into a city of farewells on Saturday as lakhs of Lord Ganesha idols will leave homes and pandals for immersion, to chants of “Agle Baras Tu Jaldi Aa”. The streets will be taken over by nimajjanam processions that will stretch late into the night, maybe even Sunday night.
This year, there is quiet sense of urgency. Dr Ravinutala Shashidhar, general secretary of Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samiti (BGUS), requested that the procession begin early to avoid overlap with the total lunar eclipse that is to begin at 8.58 pm on Sunday. City ‘kotwal’ C.V. Anand has made a similar appeal.
Immersion ceremonies have traditionally stretched over 48 hours in recent years. Asked what the samiti would in case the immersion was not complete by eclipse time, an official said the festivities would have concluded by then.
The main procession will reach Charminar by 2 pm on Saturday, and Moazzamjahi Market by 3 pm, according to the BGUS. Tripura Governor Indrasena Reddy and several other special invitees will participate in the procession.
According to the samiti, more than 1.4 lakh Ganesh mandaps have installed idols over five feet tall. On Friday the city recorded 2,07,257 immersions across GHMC zones. This includes 55,572 in Kukatpally, 38,212 in Khairatabad and 35,325 in Serilingampally. This number is expected to grow manifold through the weekend.
The Khairatabad Bada Ganesh is the focus of conversations in homes and workplaces. Last year its immersion concluded by noon, and speculation runs high on whether crowds will surge again.
Officials from the GHMC and the police described their preparations as a ritual parallel to the prayers at home. “We are occupied with festivity in our own way,” an officer said. “It is not devotion here but a sense of readiness, and once our boots are on the field, safety is the only priority.”
Preparations have been in place for days, from cranes at immersion points to sanitation crews along the routes.
Different localities reveal the spread of the festival. Charminar will see at least 2,000 tall idols. “The road was closed through the eight days and was calm, tomorrow we will be on our toes. The next day the city exhales,” said a sub-inspector.
Langer Houz, with about 110 idols and a mixed community population, has been under watch since early this week. Jawaharnagar has around 700 idols. “Working in such a populated area is tiring, but when we see families and children enjoying themselves, it eases everything, even if we are away from home,” an SI there said.
For citizens, nimajjanam closes the festival. For officials, it is the culmination of days of readiness, where their own ritual ends only when the last idol is lowered into the water, and removed, the crowds reach home safe and the roads are cleaned up for the work week beginning Monday.
