Devotees offer prayers, hold peace march to celebrate New Year

Amritsar/Varanasi, Jan.1 (ANI): Devotees marked the beginning of New Year by offering prayers at Golden temple in Amritsar for peaceful life throughout year.

Devotees said instead of going to dance clubs, a better way of celebrating New Year is to offer prayers at the holy shrines.

"The best way of celebrating New Year is that instead of going to the dance clubs and dancing out there, people should go to temples and holy shrines to offer prayers for the benefit of people and the society. This will help decrease drinking habits and the crime rate. I hope that 2011 should be peaceful and bring prosperity for everyone," said R. P. Singh, a devotee.

Meanwhile, people in Varanasi held a peace march on the banks of Ganga River, to motivate children suffering from cleft lips towards a new start of life.

"This is a new start for the children suffering from cleft lips and has lost hope. This is a new beginning for them. Such children become sad and are not accepted by the society, we have taken out a peace march for such children in the New Year, so that people realise that they should not fail ever," said Neelu Mishra, a doctor.

"They should fight with their problems and be successful. So, this is a new start for them," she added.

Dr. Mishra further said the motive behind the peace march was to condemn the recent Varanasi bomb blast that rocked the nation. (ANI)