H1N1 fear cuts Navratri queue
H1N1u00a0fear cuts Navratri queue
At any other time of the year, the Mahalaxmi temple gets an average ofu00a0 10,000 devotees every day on weekdays and 15,000 on Sundays, but during Navratri, the numbers go up to 80,000 on weekdays and a lakh on weekends. This year is expected to be an exception.
50 per cent drop
The temple trustees say they expect the numbers to drop by 50 per cent because of the swine flu threat.
u00a0
Tellingly, the number of requests for passes by political parties, which always increase during Navratri, have fallen by 80 per cent because of the election code of conduct. Passes allow the holder to skip the long queues.
Also the passes will only be available from the police and are restricted to VIPs and residents of the area.
Sharadchandra Padhye, a trustee, said the fall in numbers has been obvious over the last two months.
"On Sundays, we get just 9,000 devotees and on weekdays, it's just 6,000. How much more can these figures increase?"
The trustees have also asked people with symptoms of swine flu to refrain from coming to the temple.
ADVERTISEMENT
For the last 10 years, I have been going to the temple during Navratri and Sundays. Swine fluu00a0 can't stop me.
Ajay C, a devotee
If there is a huge crowd, I may opt out. Life is more important, I can visit later.
Gaurav Gupta a devotee
50,000
Expected numbers per day, on a weekday, during Navratri this year. The old Wankhede stadium held 38,000
Did you know?
It is said that when the British failed in their repeated attempts to connect the Mahalakshmi area to Worli by building Breach Candy on account of ferocious tides, they had almost surrendered.
The problem was fixed only by divine intervention when the goddess Lakshmi appeared in the dream of the chief engineer and asked him to remove the three statues from the seabed and establish them in a proper shrine.
u00a0
A search operation was launched to recover the statues and a temple was built. The work could be later completed without a hitch.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
