Thousands of people packed into the mada streets around Sri Kapali Temple, Mylapore on Thursday afternoon ( April10 ) to take part in the famed arubathimoovar procession of the nayanmars and the gods as part of the temple’s annual Panguni festival.
East Mada Street was packed to the pavements, in stores and beyond as the procession began after 3.30 p.m.
It was an extremely hot and stuffy afternoon and people were fighting off sweat, looking for volunteers who offered freely, water, buttermilk or juice and waited patiently in the shade for the nayanmars to come by.
The procession took time to stop, let people pray and make offerings and receive flowers; so when it took the turn into R. K. Mutt Road it was well past 6.30 p.m.
By then, South Mada Street and R. K. Mutt Road were packed with people, with thick streams of people walking up and down Venkatesa Agraharam Street.
Hundreds of hawkers took over the sides of North Mada Street and R K Mutt Road’s north side to create a hawking zone. For people, shopping was part of their evening out – bangles and bindis, playthings and vessels, toys and garments and fashion accessories.
There were at least four groups of lord Shiva bhaktas who played music on their instruments in the procession and kept rousing the people alongside; many girls and women were in these music troupes.
Also, staff of Urbaser Sumeet, the private waste-clearing agency contracted by Chennai Corporation were deployed on all the streets and they kept clearing waste that people flung on the streets. Past midnight, the staff had not only cleared the waste but even washed clean all four mada streets.
(( )) WATCH VIDEOS OF FESTIVAL – www.youtube.com/mylaporetv
