Tuesday, 20 October 2020 | PNS | Dehradun
Since the time Covid-19 pandemic hit the State, people have continued to celebrate festivals with their own twists while observing adequate precautions. Filled with religious fervour, many residents of Uttarakhand are also celebrating this Navratri differently than in the past years. While some are organising Keertans on Zoom, others are planning to feed homeless and needy on Ashtmi and Navami to celebrate Kanya Pujan.
“My mother organises Keertan of goddess Durga every Navratri for the first seven days but this year, it was not possible while maintaining physical distancing among all the devotees in our home. Therefore, we decided to organise a small Keertan gathering everyday digitally for 30 to 40 minutes to sing bhajans,” said Haldwani resident, Anuradha Bohra. She added that only 50 per cent of the total devotees join them in digital Keertan but it makes these women feel connected during the times when they are physically secluded from their friends in their homes during the festival.
Regarding the Kanya Pujan tradition, many said that they will cook the meal and distribute among homeless and needy while others stated that they will donate money to organisations working for the welfare of young girls. “I notice many children begging near temples, especially during festivals. Therefore, I will cook the dishes for Prasad and my sons will distribute it among those children. Since safety is crucial in the current times, we will prepare packets of the food before distributing them,” said a Roorke resident, Geetanjali Sharma. Meanwhile, some people said that they will organise Kanya Pujan in their homes while observing all the precautionary measures as this tradition is an important part of Navratri.
According to a Haridwar resident Pankaj Payal, it is fine to do Kanya Pujan at home when everything has returned to normal. “Everyone is going to malls, markets or every public places then what is wrong in following a tradition by inviting few kids to a meal. We cannot forget our tradition for fear of Covid. All we need to do is follow the basic safety protocols of sanitisation, physical distancing and use of face masks while we live our regular life,” said Payal. However, most of the parents of the young girls who are generally invited for Kanya Pujan stated that they will refrain from sending their daughters to others’ home due to the risk of Covid-19. “I have a nine years old daughter and she is quite young to know about the importance of physical distancing at present. The small children have comparatively low immunity than healthy adults and sending them to other people’s homes as a tradition for Kanya Pujan is not worth risking their life,” said a Dehradun based nurse, Mohini Bisht.
