Janak throws a fit over traffic, calls off Sita swayamvar

Vijay Upadhyay
AGRA. Last thursday, Lord Ram came close to returning to Ayodhya without marrying Sita. The reason? Well, Sita maiyya's father Janak resigned and threatened to pack off Ram as single as he had come to his court, if traffic arrangements outside his "palace" were not managed properly by the district administration!

And this was not all. 'King Janak' even called a Press conference to declare that he would not be receiving the baraat with such poor traffic arrangements and encroachments outside his "palace".
It was only after the Agra DM promised to get the baraat route cleared of encroachments within an hour, that 'Janak' agreed to allow his 'daughter Sita' to wed Ram.
The historical Ram baraat, which began almost 100 years back, is celebrated with great festivity in Agra every year, assuming dimensions of the largest religious procession in north India.
A separate area of the town is selected to become Janakpuri, the mythological kingdom of Janak and a married couple selected to assume the role of 'Janak' and wife 'Sunayna'.
Artists from Kolkata are invited to construct the lifesize Janak Palace and 'Janakpuri' is decorated with lights and flowers.
This year, Basant Lal Agarwal and his wife Savitri, residents of Vijay Nagar colony, had been selected to play Janak and Sunayna and they were to give away 'Sita' at their palace constructed in an empty plot in the colony.
But before the Ram baraat comprising more than 100 mobile displays of events in Lord Ram's life began moving on its city-wide circuit to reach Janakpuri, Agarwal raised a shindy on the change in traffic plan outside his "palace". When nobody cared to listen, he promptly resigned from his charge, throwing the Janakpuri Mahotsav committee and the administration into a tizzy.
Angered with official apathy, 'Janak' shed his royal garb and returned home with committee officials in tow, pleading with him to return to his "palace".
On Agarwal's dogged persistence, committee members finally got the district administration to take matters into their hands. It was only after the officials reorganised the traffic within an hour that 'Janak' finally returned to his 'palace.'
Not that this put the administration at ease. For 'Janak's' next demand and threat was to resign was over power failures which repeatedly interrupted the arrangements at Janakpuri throughout the night. However, as Saturday dawned, the baraat had been received and Sita married off. Janak's role was over and no amount of threats could make the officials budge.
(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)
For any queries or feedback - univijay@rediffmail.com, 9412282297, 9319108697

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