Five Muslim brothers lead Ayodhya 'shobha yatra'

Shamshad had been painting his face and body since 8am on Wednesday and it took him two hours to complete the makeup. When he was done, Shamshad looked no less than a member of the `vanar sena' he aimed to ape.

From Bandiki village in Rajasthan's Dausa district, Shamshad and his four brothers, who belong to the Behrupiya community , were in the forefront of the `shobha yatra' which was taken out in Ayodhya to mark the Treta Yug celebrations. The yatra covered around 3 km from Saket College to Ram Katha park.

While Shamshad was a member of the `vanar sena', his brother Fareed essayed the role of Lord Shiva, Saleem was decked up as Hanuman and the youngest sibling Akram as Lord Krishna. The eldest brother Feroz masqueraded as a djinn, who was among several others in the troupe gathered to receive Lord Ram on his arrival in Ayodhya.

“Our family has been part of Ram Lila for generations but this is the first time we were invited to Ayodhya.We are sure we can revive our lost sanskriti (culture) if the tradition of our country is always celebrated like this,“ said Fareed.

As they walked barefoot for 3 km, the five Muslim brothers were showered with flowers. Devotees tou ched their feet and locals took their pictures.

Leading the shobha yatra were brothers Amit and Ravi Verma who were dressed up as Lord Rama and Lakshman.

Models play role of Ram, Sita in UP govt event

Twenty-two-year-old Aanchal Ghai, a beauty queen and model, till some time ago was walking the ramp for Delhi fashion designers and doing ad campaigns for leading mobile and telecom firms after she made waves in Dubai in 2016 at a top beauty pageant.

Standing next to him, a strapping six feet tall, Hemant Kalra, forayed into event modelling for retail chains. The pair, along with Vikrant, another fashionista, on Wednesday flew along with UP chief minister Aditya Nath Yogi as they essayed roles of Ram, Sita and Lakshman to join the UP government's grand effort to recreate the “Treta Yuga“ in Ayodhya -said to be the period when Ram returned home after vanquishing Ravana -on the banks of Saryu river.

The three models, who came from Delhi and Mumbai, were selected by a PR event company, which holds the multi-crore contract for UP tourism department. Ghai, who has majored in life sciences, said that she was excited to be part of an exercise that will pull devotees to Ayodhya and feels the harmony among people must never waver. “We all have done commercial modelling before.

This role as Sita is challenging as it caters to the masses whose faith is built on the important characters of one era that have stayed with us as favourite dieties since our childhood,“ said Ghai.