A few were seen warming themselves near ‘Bhogimantalu’ while children and elders got busy browsing through various counters like a thatched hut with a group of traditionally dressed villagers, herds of goats and flock of hens, colourful ‘Gangireddu’ nodding its head apart from a group of folk dancers jigging to the rhythm of popular ‘tappategullu’ and couples dancing to the tunes of ‘kolatam’, among others.
The second day of ‘Sankranti Sambaralu’ at Jala Udyana Vanam organised by Telugu Samskruti Parirakshana Brundam reached a crescendo on Wednesday. The typical portrayal of village ambience had a lot to offer to the visitors. The cooking competition saw mothers pairing up with their daughters. Another pair was of a mother and son and also an elderly couple rushing to dish out a range of festival delicacies within 45 minutes.
For K. Hemalatha and Kameswara Rao, it was a nice escape from their lonely celebration. The festive mood brought back fond memories and they felt happy to be part of the competition preparing ‘ariselu’, ‘sunnundalu’ and ‘gummadi pulusu’.
Some were seen deep frying ‘kajjikayalu’ while a few filtered out ‘garelu’. The contest also saw 12-year-old Anandabhairavi steaming stuffed idlies with her mom Sridevi helping her. Together they made ‘karampodi idly’, ‘mint-coriander idly’, ‘carrot idly’ and ‘stuffed vegetable’ one apart from smiley idly. Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Sridevi said: “This is a nice way to spend their holidays rather than staying at home watching television.”
The event saw Government Whip Dronamraju Srinivas appreciating the team members for the innovative way of celebrating the festival before distributing the prizes to the winners of the cookery competition.
