• Eid-ul-Fitr prayers offered at homes, greetings through phones
• Akshaya Trithiya, Basava Jayanthi too celebrated in city

Mysore/Mysuru: Three festivals, Ramzan, Akshaya Trithiya and Basava Jayanthi, were celebrated in city this morning. But in view of total lockdown, these festivals were restricted to homes with ban on movement of people and crowded gatherings. With the second wave of COVID prevailing everywhere, Muslim brethren celebrated Ramzan by offering prayers at their homes.

While the festival is celebrated by meeting loved ones, greeting them and enjoying lavish feasts, the celebrations this year were limited to their homes and they greeted their relatives and friends over the phone. 

Poor people were given groceries so that they too could celebrate the festival in their homes. As lockdown is in force, Mosques and Eidgah Maidans in city wore a deserted look this morning as no mass prayers were held. 

Religious leaders had urged the community members to celebrate Ramzan by following the restrictions imposed by the State Government to fight the deadly Coronvirus.  

The community leaders including Sir Khazi of Mysuru Hazrath Moulana Mohammed Usman Shariff had also urged people not to gather in Mosques for prayers, but offer them at their homes.

The usual festive mood in Mysuru city was missing this year. Absence of makeshift food stalls offering scrumptious delicacies, the aroma of various dishes, the ever-bustling Meena Bazaar and people thronging shopping hotspots were all missed and the people realised it’s a small price to pay to contain the contagion. Last year too, Ramzan celebration was limited only inside houses.

Akshaya Trithiya, Basava Jayanthi too celebrated

Akshaya Trithiya and Basava Jayanthi too were celebrated in city this morning. 

Though thousands of people throng the shops to buy jewellery on the occasion of Akshaya Trithiya, this year, the people had to be contented with what they had as over 750 jewellery shops in city remained closed due to lockdown and people celebrated Akshaya Trithiya in their homes. 

Basava Jayanthi celebration was also a low key affair in city with no procession and public programmes. District Minister S.T. Somashekar, Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri, MUDA Chairman H.V. Rajeev and others garlanded the statue of Basaveshwara at Gun House Circle this morning.

PM greets citizens 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the nation on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr and Akshaya Tritiya today and asked people to follow the COVID-19 guidelines.

The PM greeted and said: “Praying for everyone’s good health and well-being. Powered by our collective efforts, may we overcome the global pandemic and work towards furthering human welfare. Eid Mubarak. Happy Akshaya Tritiya to all countrymen. This auspicious festival associated with the accomplishment of auspicious works should give us the power to realize our resolve to conquer the corona epidemic.”