Umbrellas meant for the annual Tirupati Brahmotsavam left the city without much fanfare on Sunday evening and Monday morning by van.
This year, the organisers — the Hindu Dharmartha Samithi (HDS) and the Tirupati Umbrella Charities (TUC) — chose to keep the event low-key due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Usually, they are taken to Tirumala on foot with thousands of devotees lining the route from Chennai till the State border.
Many would offer arati to the umbrellas and large groups would accompany the umbrellas that are supposed to represent Lord Adi Seshan.
S. Varadharajulu, trustee of the TUC, said this time they found it difficult to find materials, including the white teak wood meant for the poles.
“We didn’t get labourers to stitch the patterns on the insides. It took us five months to finish the umbrellas instead of the usual two months,” he said.
HDS trustee R.R….