HYDERABAD: Women, dressed up in their best and carrying colourful flowers, headed to colony parks and apartment cellars to celebrate the first day of Bathukamma, the annual floral festival of Telangana, on Wednesday. Singing folk songs and clapping the hands in unison and syncing their dance steps with the songs, the women went around the Bathukammas in perfect circles seeking the blessings of Goddess Durga or Gauramma for the good health, wealth and happiness for their families. Many colonies and apartments reverberated with the Bathukamma songs and most resident associations decked up their community halls, colony parks and other open places to celebrate the event.
The first day of the festival falls on Pethara Amavasya and is known as Engili Poola Bathukamma. Women offer nuvvulu (sesame seeds) with rice flour or nookalu (coarsely ground wet rice) to the goddess.“Bathukamma, literally a celebration of life, is an important part of the Telangana culture. During this nine-day festival, our entire family is busy with different works. From afternoon we start preparing the floral Bathukamma,” said P Ushashree, a resident of Nallakunta here.
Every evening, residents of their apartment complex, start dancing around the circular Bathukamma by singing songs, she said.All the major junctions in the city were decked with colourful lights and flowers. At a few junctions, the GHMC set up 3-D projectors and displayed the Bathukammas, which were made with artificial flowers, spreading the festive atmosphere across the city.
Kavitha notes its growing popularity
Telangana Jagruthi founder and Nizamabad MP K Kavitha, who is popularising the Bathukamma festival across the globe, said, “In 2006, when I floated Telangana Jagruthi, hardly 100 women participated in the festivities. Now, after almost 11 years, there is no looking back as lakhs and lakhs of women in the state and other countries are taking part in the celebrations.’’ She said, “I have no idea when and how the Bathukamma ritual came into vogue. I enjoy it in a great measure.” Lashing at the opposition parties for instigating people to burn Bathukamma sarees, she said, “If I were in the opposition, I would never have come out on the streets to protest against such an ambitious programme.”