A sea of people, flags and banners on Ranchi Main Road (left) mark the Sarhul procession to express gratitude to nature on Sunday. (From top) Girls in traditional attire add colour to the mega Sarhul rally in Ranchi, a tableau depicting rural life is an eye-catcher near Albert Ekka Chowk in the capital and tribal police personnel celebrate the festival at Police Lines in Dhanbad. In Ranchi, over 50,000 people took part in the Sarhul rally that started at 4.30pm and was still going strong at 8pm when this report was filed, covering around 6km from Kutchery to Siramtoli Chowk. In Dhanbad, tribal people from different samitis took part in Sarhul processions, singing and dancing. In Jamshedpur, though the scale of the festivities was low, chief minister Raghubar Das, who was in the steel city in the morning, Jamshedpur MP Bidyut Baran Mahto, politicians and tribal residents celebrated Sarhul. Celebrated during spring, when sal trees burst into bloom, Sarhul is connected intimately to tribal life. Pictures by Prashant Mitra and Gautam Dey