COURTESY TOI AUG 3
Residents pitch in to bedeck Ayodhya for its ‘biggest day’
Neha.Lalchandani@timesgroup.com
Ayodhya
: Beautifully lit houses and roads, vibrant rangolis, sparkling diyas and mouth-watering sweets. The foundation stonelaying ceremony on August 5 will be celebrated like a wedding in Ayodhya, where residents will come together like one big family to bedeck the temple town.
More than 20 organisations and committees have divided various roads, crossings and parks among themselves with residents pitching in for colonies to ensure that they are colourfully lit from August 3-5.
Chandra Prakash Gupta, president of the Udyog Vyapar Mandal in Ayodhya, said all major points in the city have been divided among organisations. These will be using their own funds for decorations, ranging from lighting of diyas, lights, rangolis and cutouts.
A view of Birla Dharmashala
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‘40 women will make rangolis outside each shop & house’
“All the associations and organisations will use their own funds for this. We will also get laddoos made and distribute them to everyone in the city,” Gupta said.
Sajan Agarwal, secretary of the Marwari Sewa Trust and chairperson of a prominent social club, said a similar initiative had been undertaken during Deepotsav last year and most associations have taken up the places that were designated to them last time.
He said the Marwari samaj is decorating a building, while the club will be decking up the Triangular Park. Masonic Lodge too will be prettifying a major park in Civil Lines. The Marwari Yuva Manch has taken up the charge of the major roundabout in Civil Lines, while another branch of the club will do up the Fatehganj Crossing.
A Hanuman Temple in Sahadatganj on the Lucknow Road will be decorated by the Indian Industries Association and the Sikh Community has taken up the Readganj Crossing and will also be lighting up the gurudwara. Other traders’ bodies, like the medical association, also have been allocated major crossings and parks.
“There are more than 20 organisations that are doing this work with no assistance from the government. Residents too are decorating their homes. In our colony, almost all houses will be lit up for three days,” Agarwal said.
On the busy Hanuman Garhi Road, Manju Modanwal and her team of 40 women will make rangolis outside each shop. Modanwal’s husband, Nand Lal Gupta, is the president of the Ayodhya Halwai’s Association, He said that 1 quintal of sweets is being prepared for distribution on Wednesday. “It is such a happy occasion for us and we wanted to contribute in whatever way we could. Therefore, a team of 40 women came together and we will be making rangolis outside each shop on this road and also outside our homes,” Modanwal said