NELLORE: The Penna river bank near the railway bridge here on Monday evening turned into a beehive of festivities as huge crowds of Sankranti revellers took part in the ‘Gobbemma’ immersion celebrations in addition to the flying of kites as a mark of a long standing tradition and culture.
Groups of women and girls arrived at the venue with ‘gobbemmas’ (balls of cow dung decorated with colours and flowers) and immersed the same in the Penna waters.
Some of them sang hymns in praise of the Gods as those carrying the ‘gobbemmas’ went into knee-deep waters and released them there. The young and the old accompanied the ‘gobbemmas’ to the shores of the river to witness the traditional event.
The river bank and also a part of the river bed turned into the venue for a big village fair where vendors of a wide variety of toys, household utilities, balloons, kites and so on set up their stalls.
Over the years, the Penna bank near the railway bridge became an attractive destination for the huge crowds for ‘Gobbemma’ immersion considering the fact that it had a wide accessible water front area and also the location of Sri Ranganadha Swamy Temple nearby.
The kite festival also became popular at the same place. The young revellers came armed with kites and thread to make the most of the celebrations. They vied with one another to send their respective kites soaring into the skies against the setting sun.
Rangoli contest
Meanwhile, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development P. Narayana took part in the ‘Gobbemma Panduga’’ celebrations held at the sprawling grounds of the VRC College on Trunk Road. Mayor Abdul Aziz, former MLA Anam Vivekananda Reddy and other leaders were present on the occasion.
Mr. Narayana went round the grounds and took a look at the ‘rangoli’ designs along with ‘gobbemmas’ made by contestants at the venue. Later, he gave away prizes to the winners.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Narayana called upon the people to uphold the values and traditions that festivals like Sankranti stand for so that the long standing culture could be preserved for posterity. He said that the government was committed to encouraging women to take part in such events and preserve traditions.
Stating that women from poor families would not be left behind, Mr. Narayana said that their government was taking steps to make sure that the per capita income of DWCRA groups’ members would go up from Rs. 36,000 to Rs. 1.10 lakh by 2022.
