Festive Season

The Rising Sun Water Fest -- 2022 was organised at the Umiam Lake in Meghalaya (close to Shillong) between November 3 and 5. This was the first time that such an event was organised at the picturesque location and it did witness participation from teams across the country and also brought in a large number of tourists. The organisers were the state governments of Assam and Meghalaya with help from the Indian Army's Eastern Command.

Chants of "Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudhchya Varshi Lavkar Ya" rent the skies with the occasional thunderstorms of showers, clouds of red 'gulal', showers of multi-hued flowers, beating of dhol-tasha (drums-cymbals), dancing, singing of bhajans praising Lord Ganesha and tight security all over.

. This festival marks the end of the winter season and a fresh beginning to the coming year. The festival is observed in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, and other North Indian states. Lohri is celebrated every year on January 13, in the month of Paush. It is majorly celebrated across India by Sikh and Hindu communities

The decision to make Durga Puja a part of the 'Intangible Heritage' list was taken at the 16th session of the annual convention of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

"The fire broke out around 10 a.m. today. Of the 17 patients undergoing treatment in the ICU ward, 10 have died and the rest are injured," District Collector Dr Rajendra B. Bhosale told mediapersons. He said the victims' bodies have been sent for autopsy to determine the exact causes of their death and further procedures will be followed thereafter.

"People should be following all the Covid appropriate guidelines from maintaining social and physical distance to wearing mask," Bhushan said while addressing a press conference on Covid-19. "Thirty-eight districts across country have recorded over 100 daily Covid cases till August 2021. Similar figures were reported from 58 and 108 districts in the months of July and June this year, respectively," he added.

All rituals, starting from Pahandi Bije of the three deities, to pulling of chariots, of the annual Rath Yatra were completed much before the scheduled time and in a very spiritual atmosphere. In view of Covid-19 pandemic, the festival was conducted without any participation of devotees. Only 'Sevayats' (servitors) pulled all three holy chariots. chariots of Lord Jagannath and his siblings reached Gundicha temple.

With chants of "Hari Bol" and "Jai Jagannath" the three deities -- Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra -- came down from the 'Ratna Simhasan' and boarded the chariots for the annual sojourn. Amid the Covid-19 restrictions Rath Yatra 2021 began on Monday at the famous Lord Jagannath temple in Puri, Odisha. Lord Jagannath and his siblings were placed in their chariots after performing 'pahandi' rituals.

A large number of devotees from Uttar Pradesh had attended the Haridwar Kumbh Mela. Rudra Dutt Chaturvedi, an octogenarian in Kanpur, has received one such call. "I did not visit the Kumbh Mela but my relatives did. I received a call asking details about my visit. I do not know if my relatives gave my number but then why would they give my number?" he wondered.

Instead of the usual cultural or entertainment programmes, the government has recommended giving priority to health camps or blood donation drives or health awareness campaigns for coronavirus, malaria, dengue etc., with highest levels of cleanliness maintained by all the public mandals and organisers of the mega Ganeshotsav groups.