Puri Rath Yatra: Joyous devotees to tune into live telecast

BHUBANESWAR: On Monday afternoon, Ashoka Manjari Nayak, a homemaker from Bargarh, was jumping with joy and disbelief as TV channels played out the news of the Supreme Court allowing Rath Yatra in Puri with restrictions.
“I was very anxious and was praying fervently since the morning. The Lord has granted my prayers,” Ashoka, who goes to Puri every year during Rath Yatra as the town is also her maternal home, said.
Unable to control her emotions, Ashoka can’t wait to watch the Rath Yatra being telecast live on television. “I will offer puja to the Lord first thing in the morning and place mangoes and bananas as bhog. I will also cook rice and dalma before the programme starts on television so that I am not disturbed during the telecast,” Ashoka, who will be missing out on the festivities in Puri for the first time this year, said.
The Rath Yatra fervour has also caught on with Jagannath devotees living abroad. Jayashree Nanda, a co-tutor at Dr Challoners High School, Amersham, England, has already plucked flowers from her garden and made garlands for the Rath celebration. “This year, I will offer ‘darasijha khechudi’, a dessert made with sprouts, grated coconut and sugar, and ‘poda pitha’ to the Lord as bhog,” an elated Jayashree, who will watch the festival online, said. “Last year, I had moved into my new house on Rath Yatra and my friends had shown me the Yatra over a WhatsApp video call,” Jayashree, who is from Bhubaneswar, said.
Like Jayashree and Ashoka, writer Sakuntala Baliarsingh will also be celebrating at home by lighting an earthern lamp that will glow throughout the day. She also plans to offer ‘khichdi’, ‘khiri’ and fruits as bhog besides decking up Lord Jagannath and his siblings in new clothes.
Similarly, Aarti Nayak, a teacher at Kendriya Vidyalaya in Puri, will offer ‘chuda ghasa’ to Lord Jagannath when his chariot will pass in front of her house on the Grand Road on Tuesday. “I offer the bhog on Rath Yatra every year. I hurried to the market to get a coconut, a key ingredient in ‘chuda ghasa’, after I came to know of the apex court’s decision,” Nayak said.
While those at home and abroad prepare for the celebrations, senior DGM (finance), ECoR, R K Panda is in constant touch with colleagues in Kharagpur for Rath Yatra celebrations at the Sri Jagannath Mandira there. “This year, I can’t go to Kharagpur to supervise the preparations because of the pandemic. The West Bengal government has given us permission for the festival. The chariots won’t be pulled, but other rituals will be performed by maintaining social distancing,” Panda of Rail Vihar said.