Puri, July 18: Taking pictures with chariots during rath yatra is cliché, what's new is selfie mania.

As raths were ready to roll out on Grand Road, devotees, particularly the younger ones, held out their smartphones and selfie sticks to shoot themselves with the most desired background this Nabakalebar in Puri.

"I find the chariots simply stunning. It's my first visit to Puri and when I saw these huge chariots, I could not believe my eyes. I wanted my friends to see how lucky I am to be here," said Pamela as she got ready to take a selfie with Debadalana, the rath of Subhadra.

For many, taking selfies is way to record, as well as to prove, their adventurous visit to witness rath yatra.

"Everyone knows that lakhs would turn up to witness the grand spectacle. We wanted to post our pictures on social networking sites for friends to have a feel why this adventure has been so special," said Ranvir Deb, an engineering student-turned-photographer.

Many of those who have come in groups, are armed with selfie sticks. Placing their phones or cameras on one end of the stick, they happily posed and clicked away.

"The best part of using a selfie stick is that you can adjust its height and length to ensure that the desired background is captured. With the chariots so high, a selfie stick comes handy to get all three in one frame," said college student Nigam.

For those who have missed out on taking selfies, here's a bit of advice - head for Puri and get the best frames as rath remain parked outside Gundicha temple till the return leg of the journey.