City gears up for Deepavali

Shops are abuzz with people on a shopping spree

The City is gearing up for the festival and already cracker shops have been put up at the King George Hall premises. Various decorative items are also on sale
Deepavali consists of several rituals like Naraka Chaturdashi, Bali Padyami, Kari, Varsha Todaku, Govatsa Dvadashi, Dhana Trayodashi, worshipping the cows, Lakshmi Puja, Govardhan Puja, Bhava Bidige, Pandava Panchami, Hanuma Jayanthi, Hosakki Habba and many others.

They come one after the other making the festival a chain of events, an amalgamation of folk, puranic and historical beliefs. For Deepavali wearing new cloths, painting the houses, preparation of sweets and bursting crackers are a must.

Nomu
The shops have already stacked up all the materials needed for the ritual like the nomu thread, beetle nut, ‘mora’ and other things.
In the earlier days people would go to the beetle leaf farms to perform puja but nowadays declining beetle leaf farms have forced them to install a beetle leaf Gowri at home and worship. One can see women wearing the nomu thread on their wrist for three days at least.

No crackers for some
However, some environment conscious people were planning to give up bursting crackers with an eye on avoiding pollution.  
Instead they preferred to go for sweets, gold ornaments and expensive cloths.