The heat hung heavy in the air at noon in Nampally, where the temperature touched 33 °C , but that did little to deter the steady stream of people making their way to the Ajanta Gate of the Exhibition Grounds. Drawn by hope and tradition, thousands from across the country gathered in Hyderabad on Sunday to receive the famed ‘fish prasadam,’ administered annually by the Bathini Goud family on the occasion of Mrigasira Karthi.
The atmosphere resembled that of the iconic Numaish fair, with streets choked with parked vehicles, traffic police working to ease the congestion, and loudspeakers crackling with instructions to maintain the flow of the crowd. Inside the grounds, visitors queued up to purchase a ₹40 token, required to receive the prasadam. After this, they were guided along barricaded lines towards the distribution point, where the murrel fish embedded with a secret herbal paste was slipped down their throats.
