New Delhi: With a dip in COVID-19 cases and easing of restrictions, several people here chose to travel to meet their relatives and celebrate raksha bandhan on Sunday, unlike last year when festivities were subdued because of a rampaging pandemic.
Traffic snarls were reported from various parts of the city, including Tilak Nagar and Pitampura, with the Delhi Traffic Police responding to several tweets of people, who were stuck in jams, saying "traffic is heavy due to festival".
No death due to COVID-19 was recorded in Delhi on Saturday, the second consecutive day the daily fatality count stood nil, while 19 new cases, the lowest since April 15 last year, were also reported here, according to health department data.
However, information technology (IT) professional Swati Singh celebrated the festival of brother-sister bond at home for the second consecutive year as her family is yet to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
She said that on every raksha bandhan, before the infection's outbreak, her family went out for lunch at a restaurant to celebrate the day.
"Even though we miss eating out, this has turned out to be a good way to bond. We all are cooking a little of something, and enjoying a variety of dishes at home," Singh said.
Professional photographer Ankit Gautam, who lost his maternal uncle in May in Jamshedpur, decided to travel with his family to the city in Jharkhand.
"This year, I am away from home (Delhi) and celebrating rakhi with my cousins. The other purpose of this visit, is to take my maternal grandfather to Delhi as he still has some complications post-recovery from Covid," he said.
Gautam said that travelling to Jamshedpur, brought some change.
Preeti Mishra, a researcher at IIT-Delhi, caught up with her cousins to celebrate the festival after a year's gap.
"This year, we are back to our regular celebration. We cousins met up to celebrate which we missed last year due the pandemic. This year, we all gathered at one of my cousins' house," she said.
According to the Delhi Traffic Police, traffic jams were reported from Tilak Nagar, Najafgarh, Punjabi Bagh, Pitampura and Peera Garhi, among other places in the city.
"I m going to Delhi to my grandmother's house to tie rakhi to my cousin... stuck in traffic for an hour. Just how much I wish I was at home..." a Twitter user posted. Police in responded saying, "traffic is heavy due to festival".