THE Ram Navami shobhayatras have been Nagpur’s pride, not just for its massive scale and the number of processions, but also for the core idea that was germinated more than half a century ago. That idea grew into a habitual expectation of massive celebrations all over the city that took out nearly a dozen major shobhayatras every year to mark Ram Navami. So good did the idea prove itself in time that it became one of Nagpur’s signature-events -- covered by international media agencies in great detail. Documentaries have come up showcasing the main Ram Navami shobhayatra and countless magazines have run cover stories on the event. But we are missing the Ram Navami shobhayatras for the second consecutive year, thanks to the serious coronavirus situation, which made it essential that the city shunned all occasions when massive gatherings were seen.

 

Though nobody likes the very idea that there are no Ram Navami shobhayatras in the city, nobody complains. Nevertheless, all of us miss the massive road-shows whose import is recognised by people of all communities, beyond religious barriers. As a young Reporter so many years ago, the loosefooter remembers distinctly having been given the assignment to cover the first Ram Navami shobhayatra started by the owners of Shri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir in Hansapuri. The initial process was small, with about two hundred men-and-women devotees neatly starting from the temple on a small round and then returning after about two hours -- amid chants of Jai Shriram plus a few devotional slogans and songs. But that small start proved to be like the small banyan seed that gives way to a massive tree in eventual time. Every year, the Ram Navami shobhayatra grew in size and acceptance and also became a trigger for other groups in the city to emulate the example.

 

In subsequent years, the Ram Navami shobhayatras started attracting people from all communities and religious faiths, endorsing the inclusiveness of the city’s culture. The memory of this journey of half a century has often given the loosefooter a sense of pride as well as a sense of participation in the effort to spread a good word about it. He also remembers how he became one of the initiators of a similar shobhayatra at Shri Ram Mandir in Ram Nagar (Adhytma Ram Mandir) in West Nagpur just a few years later. For years, it has been a habit of this loosefooter to roam around town in the evening of Ram Navami to experience the feel of pride swelling in the chest that our beloved city hosts such a show year after year. Today, as the city sorely misses the shobhayatras, all one can hope and wish and pray is that the next year, the coronavirus would be vanquished and the city -- as well as the whole world -- will start humming with regular activity. Till that time, even the memory of the event is good enough, n