Sankranti celebrated with gaiety in Andhra Pradesh

HYDERABAD - Sankranti, the colourful Telugu harvest festival, was celebrated with gaiety and traditional fervour across Andhra Pradesh Thursday.

Towns and villages wore a festive look with colourful kites, rangolis, decorated bulls and cock fights, which marked one of the major festivals of Telugus.

The day began with women making colourful rangolis in front of their houses with cow dung and flowers. The houses were adorned with marigold flowers and mango leaves.

There was a Telangana touch to the celebrations this year as the region comprising Hyderabad and nine other districts is witnessing protests for a separate state.

In response to the call given by the all-party Joint Action Committee (JAC), fighting for a separate Telangana state, some wrote “Jai Telangana” in front of their homes while others drew a map of the proposed state.

Thousands of people from Hyderabad joined their near and dear ones in the towns and villages in the celebrations. Authorities ran special buses and trains to clear the festival rush from Hyderabad to coastal Andhra region.

The three-day festival began with Bhogi where bonfires were lit on the streets with household waste.

In Hyderabad, where Sankranti is not complete without kite-flying, thousands of kites were seen decorating the sky with kids competing with one another. The lanes were abuzz as youngsters were seen running to grab the kites cut loose by competitors.

Kite traders made a fast buck as flyers thronged the shops to buy kites and ‘manja’ (a specially made thread). The rising prices also had its impact on kite flying. “The prices of kites and manja have gone beyond our reach,” said a youngster.

There was a different kind of excitement in the countryside with traditional cock-fights in parts of coastal Andhra. There were also sheep and bull fights that were watched by thousands of people.

‘Haridasus’ and ‘Basvannas’, uniquely attired alm-seekers with ornately decorated oxen, made rounds of the villages to seek alms. The farmers also decorated bullocks and worshiped them for their contribution to the harvest.

An important part of the festival is cooking ‘chakkara pongal’ or rice kheer, a special dish made of newly-harvested rice, jaggery and milk. The boiling over of the rice and milk symbolises abundance.