Ludhiana: City residents celebrated Dussehra on Sunday with their family members. Though the usual Dusshera fervour was missing this time, the effigy of Ravans was still erected at a fewer places where these were burnt by Dusshera committees in the evening. The committee members had claimed that people would not be allowed near Dusshera venues due to Covid-19 guidelines and they managed to keep the number of people within the permissible limits. In the morning also only a few people visited the sites with their families for seeing the effigy of Ravana at Daresi ground, Upkaar Nagar, Rajguru Nagar, etc.
Some were seen taking selfies with Ravana effigies. But most of the people were unhappy over the small size of the effigies this time. A resident of Daresi, Meenu Kapoor, said, “Since childhood days, I have been coming to the Dussehra ground for Dussehra celebrations but this time there is less response from people as well. Due to the pandemic people are avoiding coming to the venue in large numbers.” She said it has also led to losses for the poor who used to arrange swings and fair at Dussehra ground every year because they did not get chance to do anything this time.
Another resident from Civil Lines Anup Kumar said since childhood Dussehra meant eating tikkis, golgappas, swings and fun for him, but not this year because all these things were missing from the venue at Upkar Nagar. He said the committee had organised the Dusshera symbolically so that their ritual should continue. He prayed to Lord Rama that next year Dussehra should be celebrated in the old traditional way and this pandemic should go away as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, there was a rush in the market as people were out to get eatables for their households or were visiting their relatives to greet them for Dussehra. In the morning, there is a ritual in some families to worship Ravana for his intellect but in the evening he is burnt to show that pride has a fall and good always wins over evil.
“Dussehra symbolises the victory of good over evil and everybody should learn a lesson from Ramayana and to educate my kids about such things I used to bring them every year to the Dussehra fair. But this time due to this disease even I preferred not to go anywhere,” said Mahinder Sharma, a resident of Haibowal. He further said that parents hardly get time with the children and only in festivals there used to be gala time for families. This year though pandemic hit many but it also gave enough time to families for spending good time together.
Meanwhile, cops were also deployed near Dusshera venues so that there should not be a large gathering anywhere and any untoward incident could be avoided. It was at around 5.30pm that the effigies of Ravana were burnt at various locations and once again message of victory of good over evil got circulated.