Life comes to a standstill for longest eclipse

In Chintamani

In Chintamani the always crowded double road and MG Road wore a deserted look. Not only the shops but also the roadside vendors had taken off from their routine. The banks and government offices worked but the general feeling was that of a holiday. The taluk panchayat office, which is always crowded with people was totally empty. Private schools and colleges had declared holiday to facilitate the students to view the rare celestial phenomenon. The government schools and colleges though did not declare holiday, had only 5 per cent attendance. There was confusion among students  about the holiday and most of them stayed home. Only the staff were present and waited for the students to show up. Most of the hotels closed shutters and only a few that opened did not have any business.
Only the film theatres ran films as usual and there was good number of audience too.

In Mulbagal
At Mulbagal the historical Anjaneya temple was closed during the eclipse. However some devotees offered prayers outside the temple. Only after the eclipse ended the temple was washed and purification rituals were conducted.
Other temples like Someshwara, Kurudumale Vinayaka, Virupaksheshwara were also closed. At the Suryanarayanaswamy temple a special Surya shanthi homa was conducted, led by chief priest Nagabhushanachar.  

Schools and colleges were closed and the cinema theatres, banks and government offices wore a  deserted look. Temples in the state had rescheduled their pooja timings in view of the eclipse and closed the temple before the eclipse began.

In Srinivaspur
In Srinivaspur religious rituals dominated the eclipse as special poojas were offered and crowd gathered at the temples to offer prayers.  
At Sri Nagareshwara temple priest G Praveen Shastri led shanthi homa, pooja, navagraha pooja and mahamangalarathi on the occasion of eclipse. At old market Nallagangamma temple special milk abhishekha, with devotees offering hundreds of litres of milk to the goddess.
In rural areas, ethnic belief that if a pregnant cow or buffalos went out during eclipse they would give birth to deformed calf, made people not to send them out for grazing. Even pregnant stayed home.
In front of several houses hen were sacrificed during eclipse as offering to sun god. The teachers of Sabarmathi High school in the outskirts of the City set up a telescope and screened the eclipse on a big screen. Senior science teacher M V Danaprakash had made the arrangements. Old xray films and blackened glass were also used to view the eclipse. Some people placed a bucket full of water and viewed the shadow.  
DH News Service