HYDERABAD: After months-long preparation, Hyderabad will finally welcome Lord Ganesha across thousands of pandals and lakhs of households on Saturday. The lord who removes obstructions will enjoy 11 days of hospitality, with each day being vibrant and colourful.
People thronged markets on Friday to shop for Lord Ganesha idols and puja items. As environmental concerns played over people’s minds, clay idols found greater acceptance among devotees.
At Monda market, one of biggest markets in the city, vendors of leaves and flowers made brisk business throughout the day except for a brief time in the evening when sudden rain lashed some parts of the city
Khairatabad remained chock-o-block with a large number of people turning up to have a glimpse of the tallest Ganesha idol of Telangana.
Sweet shops made good business with laddu sales shooting up. Laddu is one of the traditional sweets that is offered to Lord Ganesha. As these laddu remain adorned to the idol for 11 days, the sweet makers ensure that laddus do not lose its freshness till the immersion day. Each laddu weighs from 1 kg to 25 kg. These special laddus are mostly available at Begum Bazaar, Mangalhat, Dhoolpet, General Bazaar in Secunderabad, and some of them are auctioned.
T. Ramesh Singh, a laddu-maker at K. Narendra Sweets at Mangalhat, said, “We take a lot of care while preparing the laddu. This year, we have orders for eight 21-kg laddus, 70 laddus of each weighing 11 kgs, 70 laddus of each weighing five kg. A lot of one kg laddus.”
