Swaying together, singing in unison, communities immerse in ‘Ram’ bhakti

Visakhapatnam: Raja Lakshmi is looking forward to celebrating her 88th birthday that coincides with the date of the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Apart from celebrating with her family members, she is keen on contributing to the Ram fete.

Sharing her excitement, Rajam, she is dearly known as, says, “As a tribute to the 500-year-long struggle, I am going to light five lamps at home and do my bit to ‘Ram Jyothi’. I am extremely glad that I could celebrate the ‘Pran Pratishta’ of the Lord Ram Lalla idol in my own little way.”

As social media platforms are flooded with reels, posts and forwards revolving around Ram Lalla’s consecration ceremony in Ayodhya, people across communities and age groups break into a celebration mode.

From a 2,100-kg bell to a 108-ft-long incense stick, a giant lamp to a pair of golden footwear, saris printed with the images of Lord Ram to a silk sari weighing 16-kg, 5,000 American diamond-studded silver necklace depicting Ram Mandir to a ‘laddu’ weighing 1,265-kg and a silk bed linen portraying Ram temple, exclusive gifts trickled down to Ayodhya wrapped with devotion and love from artistes, weavers, jewellers, merchants and traders across the country.

Singing away to glory, artistes vie with one another to belt out ‘Mere Ram Ayenga’, ‘Jai Shree Ram’, ‘Jai Siya Ram’ and ‘Yug Ram Rajya Ka Aagaya’, among plenty of others, in every other reel on social media platforms.

As the nation is gripped with ‘Ram’ mania, people from diverse communities come together to contribute their part to the grand occasion wherein some of the states declared a holiday on January 22.

Swaying to the tunes of Lord Ram, Classical dancers uploaded a host of reels.

Visakhapatnam-based artist Moka Vijay Kumar has come up with an exclusive millet artwork of Ram Mandir along with stoic Ram wielding the bow and carrying a quiver of arrows.

With orange flags flying high, a bike rally was carried out in Visakhapatnam by Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other religious groups from RR Venkatapuram to Kancharapalem on Sunday.

Rama Lakshmi, a resident of MVP Colony Sector-4, was pleasantly surprised when her maid sought half a day leave on Monday. “When I asked the maid lady the reason for the leave, she told me that she has to light five diyas at home to celebrate the consecration of Ram idol at Ayodhya. I was quite surprised and equally impressed with her response,” says Rama Lakshmi, who is celebrating the occasion by making large quantities of Lord Ram’s favourite refreshing drink ‘panakam’ (made of diluted jaggery syrup) and distributing glasses of them to her neighbours.

Marking the grand occasion, a group of devotees of Lord Ram took out a procession at Gajuwaka on Sunday. The event drew over 2,000 people, including Dinesh Modi of RK Stores.

Residents of some of the gated communities, including Balaji Hill View, plan their day to watch the live screening of Ram’s ‘Pran Pratishta’ ceremony with their loved ones.