In what came as a boon to devotees who waited under the hot sun to witness the temple car procession and many youths who pulled the cars, a large number of ‘pandals’ had been set up on Masi Streets where water and chilled beverages were distributed. Those at the ‘pandals,’ which had been set up by voluntary organisations and commercial establishments in the area, distributed water and juice packets, buttermilk and other cool drinks. Many stalls were also seen giving away cardboard and plastic hand fans to devotees who were waiting to see the procession. Many residents in the area too distributed water to the public.
S. Gunasekaran, who owns a jewellery shop, said that he had distributed over 1,000 water packets during the car procession.
“It is our way of helping people during the hot summer as well as a service for the conduct of temple festival,” he said. After the temple car procession, many devotees also distributed ‘prasadams.’
C. Balusai, who was distributing ‘puliyodharai’, ‘sarkkarai pongal’ and curd rice outside his coffee shop, said that over the last two days they had distributed over 1,600 cups of prasadam.
“While we make it a point to offer prasadam every year during the festival, people wait for a long time here and are generally hungry by the time they get to leave,” he said.
Many ‘pandals’ saw a mad rush for cool drinks and the absence of police personnel at a few of these spots made the situation chaotic.
