Weekend curfew hits scale, not spirit of Sankranti in Bengaluru

The weekend curfew failed to deter citizens from celebrating Makara Sankranti, the harvest festival, on Saturday.

While markets were shut and public movement was restricted, citizens celebrated the festival indoors with the same traditional and cultural fervour.

In view of the curfew, most festival shoppers flocked to the markets on Friday itself. Still, sugarcane and mango leaves — two key symbols of Sankranti — were purchased on Saturday morning, too, in KR Market, Madivala and Malleswaram markets.

People distributed Yellu-Bella, the festival delicacy made from sesame seeds, jaggery, dried coconut, roasted peanut and fried gram dal, to neighbours and close friends.

Although temples were shut to the public, priests and temple staff offered special Sankranti prayers in the morning.

People in Siddapura, Mariyannana Palya, Kengeri and KR Puram decorated livestock with flowers and balloons, and performed puja. In the evening, cattle were made to run through fire in a ritual to ward off the evil.

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