Celebrating ‘Cheti Chand’ with a host of events

Visakhapatnam: Ushering in the ‘New Year’ with a host of fun-filled programmes, Sindhis settled in Visakhapatnam celebrated ‘Cheti Chand’ with family and friends here on Sunday.

Annually, the Sindhis celebrate the New Year on the ‘Chaitra Shukla Paksha’ and most of the times, the day coincides with ‘Gudi Padawa’ and ‘Ugadi’ (New Year celebrated by Telugus).

This year, the celebrations began with a ‘nagar keerthan’, a procession of Lord Jhulelal (also known as Lord Varun Dev, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu) at 5:30 am.

This was followed by ‘abhishekam’ of the idol incorporating aromatic substances, honey and other edible items at the Sindhu Bhavan amidst chanting of slokas.

The women participated in singing bhajans and offering prayers. The ‘bhairano’, a small conical-shaped mound with wheat flour, pure ghee, water, cloves, cardamom, etc, was prepared on the occasion

Devotees came in droves to the Sindhu Bhavan to offer prayers to Lord Jhulelal and the ‘bhairano’ that represents Lord Jhulelal.

In the evening, the Sindhi families along with children took part in a host of programmes.

Sindhi Panchayat president Manohar Nagpal, secretary Kishore Gaja and Sindhi ladies wing president Sheela Lalchand, among others, participated in the New Year celebrations that concluded with the procession of the ‘bhairano’ and its immersion into the sea.