For 1st time, chariot set to roll out in Southall

BHUBANESWAR: When the three chariots roll down the Grand Road in Puri on Rath Yatra on July 1, another one will be out in Southall, London, for the first time.
Members of the Shree Jagannath Society, UK, are currently working to ready the wooden chariot by June 30. Planning for the chariot started on Akshaya Trutiya this year in consultation with Puri Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb.The 4-ft-high chariot is being constructed in the house of Biplab Mishra, a member of the society, in Northall and will be mounted on an iron trolley.
The decorative cloth with Pipili appliqué work has been procured from Odisha. It has been made by Sudarshan Maharana, an appliqué craftsman living near Pipili. “We placed the order through my brother, who lives in Bhubaneswar,” said Prakash Dey, general secretary of the society. Around Rs 1 lakh has been spent on construction of the chariot. The chariot will be pulled on a pavement in Southall in the evening as July 1 is a working day.
The pulling of chariot will start from Shree Ram Mandir, Southall, where the idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra were installed, and will be brought back to the shrine premises and placed in a room to be used as Gundicha Temple. “We are expecting a small crowd of around 50 people on Rath Yatra as July 1 is a working day,” said Dey.
He said the society has sent out invitations for the July 9 Bahuda Yatra that will be celebrated at the temple from 11 am to 5 pm as it is a weekend.
Among the invitees will be Punjabis, Gujaratis and Bengalis besides Odias. Prasad will also be distributed to all the devotees.
“We will be following all rituals like in Puri as per the instructions of the Gajapati. A purohit of the Southall temple will be conducting the rituals,” said Dey. On June 14, the society also celebrated Debasnan Purnima at the temple in London.