Unity in Diversity at its best
Published February 4, 2010 | 
India in general and Kerala in particular has always been famous for being the home to a multitude of cultures, festivals and religions, which has only accented the richness and vibrancy of our social fabric . Though divisive forces and religious fanaticism have wrecked havoc all over the world, Kerala can take pride in being successful in upholding its secular credentials.
This heartening incident that happened in Cochin last week , should be an eye opener for all those who try to break the strong bonds of brotherhood and amity.
Scene 1: A well attended religious procession from a famous temple is underway and the streets get jam packed with curious onlookers and devotees as the many colorful ‘kavadis’ ( Richly decked up arches,some as tall as four feet or more; with confetti and glitter which is carried on the shoulders of the male devotees as a mark of respect to the presiding deity of Lord Muruka) take to the streets. Well complimented by the fast beats of percussion instruments, soon the religious fervor and frenzy hits its crescendo as the devotees with the towering kavadis on their shoulders and some with their cheeks pierced with the sharp tridents as a mark of penance, dance and swirl in a trance. As the procession enters the residential areas, people staying in houses on either side of the road welcome the procession with lighted lamps and floral garlands irrespective of their caste or religion. The procession grows in size as more people join it at the rear, making it a swarming sea of humanity. Nobody seems to bother about the religion of the person standing next to him; on the other hand everyone was making the most of the festive spirit in the air.
Scene 2: A few minutes later, a church procession in connection with its annual festival hits the main roads. The decorated deity was taken out in procession and there were band sets and people carrying religious flags and colorful parasols to add to the pomp and glitter of the whole occasion. Both the processions meet at a junction down the road and I could see people of both the processions exchanging pleasantries as they moved forward.
Igniting religious enmity is not in people’s agenda anyway and those who are behind it should have their own evil designs and motives for sure!
The mobile fashion boutique
Published October 20, 2008 | Today is a special day for the village bellies; a well cherished guest will be making his monthly visit to their remote village. The ladies finish off their household chores in a hurry and send the kids to the main road to see whether he could be spotted. They wait with bated breath for hours together before he makes a majestic appearance. He is a mobile fashion boutique for the villagers in Kerala. He props up a massive display board on his shoulder that features all the bare essentials needed for their make up box. Festive occassions like Onam and vishu would add up to the shopping frenzy of the villagers, making him busy.
Kids also look forward to his visit as he brings balloons of various colors and shapes apart from various toys and indoor games to make their holidays memorable. Unlike their urban counterparts, though they cannot lay their hands on the world famous game packs like Disney and G I Joe, they get more than their fair share in this mobile toy shop. From toy guns to cars and card games, he brings them all and more to their door step. The goggles in garish hues like shocking pink and green are all time favorite among the kids.
The ladies make a beeline to pick up the latest accessories to dress up for the annual temple festivals and fairs. They select from the best of the lot from heaps of glass bangles and strings of necklaces being put on display. The girls will strike a deal by some hard haggling and he gives out these goodies for a song before walking into the next house. Though the mushrooming of ladies stores and fashion boutiques has dampened his business prospects, he still makes it a point to visit this village on the specified day to cater to the diverse needs of his customers.
“Thulabharam’ offering to Lord Krishna with tablets
Published April 24, 2008 | 
Guruvayur: The famous Guruvayur Sreekrishna Temple Lord Krishna at Guruvayur, located in Trichur district in Kerala, witnessed a rather unusual offering by a devotee- a thulabharam offering with paracetamol tablets. It took 72 kg of tablets to match the body weight of the devotee.
‘Thulabharam’ is one of the important rituals of this temple where people make offerings to God for favours received. On a weighing balance, the devotee is weighed against the offerings that he has promised from gold to fruits according to his financial capability. However, in rare cases, bizarre items like tablets or coconut husks are also offered by devotees.
Satyan of Kadamparambil House in Kuttur made the tablet offering to fulfill the promise made by his father. Normally the thulabharam articles like sugar, banana or rice are used up in the temple or auctioned off publicly. Now as the offering has come in the shape of tablets, the temple officials are planning to use it at the Devaswom hospital.
Who will grab the tail of the elephant?
Published April 10, 2008 | 
Kollam: This is a race of a different genre altogether exclusively for the brave hearted amongst you! Devotees of Sri Bala Subrahmanya Swamy Temple at Umayanallur scurry after an elephant to catch its tail at the ‘aanavaal pidi’ ritual. It is an exceptional Hindu ritual where the participants who have been fasting for seven days, run after the tusker trying to catch its tail. The participants opine that they experience a spiritual delight by participating in this ritual and believe that it will fulfill their wishes.
Devotees chase the elephant for about one hundred metres and try to catch its tail and the astonishing fact is that till date, no elephant has lost its cool in spite of being chased and bullied by scores of people who vie to have a hold at its tail. This fact deserves special mention as these days it has become quite common for the elephants to run amok thereby creating chaos and confusion in temple festivals.
This ritual held every year in the Malayalam month of Meenam as part of the ten-day annual festival, which falls during the months of March-April at the Umayanallur Sri Bala Subrahmanya Swamy Temple in Kollam recreates the childhood high jinks of the presiding deity of Lord Bala Subramanyam and his younger brother Lord Ganesh. The ritual aptly named as ‘catching the elephant’s tail’ (aanavaal pidi) traces its origin to over 1500 years.
Thousands of devotees participate in this ritual with frenzy and fervor where the caparisoned elephant will be chased by men. The ritual also attracts tourists from far and wide who are awestruck by this exceptional spectacle.
'Spider temple’ in Adoor
Published March 7, 2008 | 
Adoor: This temple is the only one of its kind, which offers remedy for spider venom. Located at Kodumon in Pathanamthitta district, this temple draws hundreds of devotees from far and wide. People suffering from skin ailments caused by spider venom offer puffed rice to the deity and smear the holy ash given from the temple, all over their body. The water in the ‘Spider Well’ (Chilanthi Kinar) is thought to be the best cure for Skin Diseases. This unique temple is dedicated to Goddess Mahalakshm and people from all caste and creed worship here.
It is believed that within a week even the most serious skin ailments caused by spider bites will be fully cured. Located at a distance of 8km from the town of Adoor, this unique temple is more famous by the name of ‘spider temple’, these days.
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.
Huge turnout to witness the temple festival
Published January 15, 2008 | 
Ernakulam, January 15
The two day long temple festivity ended with gaiety and fervor at the famous Udayamperoor Nadakkav Temple here yesterday. Every year this temple festival is celebrated with huge devotion. It is known that this temple festival is celebrated to please the Goddess ‘Bhadra Kali’ (one of goddess of hindus), and is celebrated every year since a long time.
The festival well known as “Nadakkav Uthruttathi Thalappoli”, is constituted by two groups one the west NSS group and the other East NSS group. Both these groups workout the whole festivity and programs. The day one of the Ulsavam (Festival) belongs to one group and the other day to the next group.
Large number of devotees and spectators gathers to witness this colorful festivity. The main attraction remains the processions of richly caparisoned elephants from both groups. This year there were seven elephants which were standing tall giving a new height to the occasion.
Along with these elephants the musicians who echoed the whole vicinity with the Panchavadyam, a combination of five percussion including ‘Chenda’, ‘Madalam’, ‘Thappu’ and wind instruments which made the whole atmosphere vibrant and rhythmic. And to end the whole proceedings there were some ear banging display of fireworks. The whole sky was illuminated with the dazzling of these colorful fireworks which the devotees enjoyed a lot. This culminated the two day long devotional festivity at the huge temple ground of Udayamperoor Nadakkav Temple.