Homes and markets across the city are humming with activity in the run-up to one of the biggest pujas of the Shravana month, Varamahalakshmi Vrata, on Friday.
Early Friday morning, women start the vrata by installing the eponymous deity symbolically through a kalasha, which is usually decorated with gold jewellery.
Sheela Mahesh, a resident of Vinayaka Layout near Kengeri, said before the puja, women and girls in the house wear a yellow thread on their wrists, called kankana.
Even as the women were busy preparing for the festival, prices of flowers reached sky-high on Thursday. Chrysanthemum, crossandra and jasmine were being sold at prices ranging from Rs. 120 to Rs. 150 per length ( maaru ). A pair of banana stems was between Rs. 50 and Rs. 75 in busy markets like Gandhi Bazaar and Malleswaram.
However, prices of vegetables and fruits did not vary much.
