Attukal Pongala Festival- The exclusively women's festival
Published February 20, 2008 | 
Thiruvananthapuram: Attukal Pongala is a women’s only festival celebrated in the ancient Bhagavathy temple at Attukal in Thiruvananthapuram district. The ten-day-long temple festival is in the Malayalam month of Makaram-Kumbham (February-March). Ninth day is the most important day of the festival when the famous Attukal Pongala Mahotsavam takes place.
The culmination of Pongala is with the sacrificial offering at night known as Kuruthitharpanam. Countless women from all castes and creed from Kerala and the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu throng the temple premises to make ‘Pongala’ offerings to the Goddess, believed to be incarnation of ‘Kannaki’, the heroine of ‘Silappathikaram’ written in 2nd century A.D.
Festivities start with rendering songs about the deity. On the ninth day thousands of women gather in the temple to prepare Pongala, which is porridge of rice, sweet brown molasses, coconut gratings, nuts and raisins. The ritual of cooking starts very early in the morning and by noon, Pongala would be ready. Then the chief priest blesses the devotees by sprinkling holy water and showering flowers and then the pongala is taken back to the houses by the women.
The Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation has employed over 2000 sanitation workers to ensure sanitation in the temple premises. 20 health inspectors and 36 junior health inspectors would oversee the activities. After the Pongala ritual the bricks used to make kilns to cook the Pongala will be removed by Kudumbasree workers. 35 garbage trucks are being pressed into service to clear the waste. Drinking water supply will be ensured by the Corporation and health squads are formed to carry out inspection in hotels and restaurants.
Pongala draws large number of devotees and tourists to this city. Colorful processions comprising Thalapoli, Kuthiyottom, caparisoned elephants etc and musical programmes by famous artistes add charm to the festivities. Enroute, the procession will be greeted by Nirapara offered by the devotees and the procession returns to the temple the next morning marking the grand finale of the festival.
Kerala Shopping festival in Alappuzha hogs limelight
Published January 17, 2008 | 
Alappuzha: Kerala seems to have followed the footsteps of the global shopping destinations like Dubai in luring the avid shoppers by conducting festivals and galas. The Alappuzha shopping fete could rake in Rs.65 crore and 118 shops participated in this venture. Considering the fact that this event was the first of its type, the venture was a huge success.
The media hype and publicity campaigns ensured drumming up of public support to this shopping festival and thousands of shoppers thronged to get a hang of the one stop shop experience. From electrical and electronics gadgets to garments and leather goods it touched upon virtually every segment of consumer goods.
The festival was from December 1 to January 5 and the shops, which participated in the fete had announced over 80,000 gift coupons and attractive discount vouchers to add impetus to the marketing campaign. The South Zone lucky draw will be held on the Alappuzha beach on January 18 and the mega draw is scheduled to be held at Thiruvananthapuram on January 22.
So far, 64 Santro cars and 64 Sony Plasma television sets have already been distributed to customers who had made purchases above Rs.1,000. Encouraged by the big success of this year’s shopping fete, the District Industries Centre is planning to conduct a similar show on a bigger scale next year also to cash in on the buoyant economy and an impressive purchasing capacity of the general public. In addition hundreds of smaller gifts were offered through the scratch-and-win coupons and weekly lucky draws.
When the curtains came down on this Grand Kerala Shopping Festival on Tuesday, authorities were basking under the glory of a run away hit with commercial transactions to the tune of Rs.65 crore from Alappuzha alone. Happy shopping days are here again!