The official celebrations of the nine-day Bathukamma festival came to a rather disappointing end today as a plan to set a record to form a "Thangedu Puvvu" in 10 minutes failed.
The department of culture made all the necessary arrangements for setting the record that would enter the Guinness Book of World Records by breaking the previous feat by Kerala, but the intermittent rain disturbed the event and the 6,000 women could not form the puvvu in 10 minutes as planned.
Also, while the floral festival came to a grand end with all districts celebrating the event, an effort to have a grand Bathukamma made in just 45 minutes by 3,000 women too did not fructify.
The officials of the Guinness Book of World Records said that they would not consider the efforts of the Telangana officials as there were fewer than 6,000 women to form a Thangedu flower design. The officials also said that there was no coordination towards the preparation of 3,000 Bathukammas.
However, it was still a grand celebration. A total of 6,000 women participated in the finale of the floral fiesta at the L B Stadium that morphed into a giant colourful orchid. The flowers and the womenfolk singing and dancing to the Bathukamma theme enticed one and all. Later, a related program was held at Tank Bund to mark the grand finale of Saddula Bathukamma, with traffic curbs on.
The festival was also conducted across all other 30 districts in the state, with the Collectors and officials concerned making all the arrangements.