Some scenes from Onam 2013 at Thiruvananthapuram

The eateries have no respite. A wayside foodstall workers near the Secretariat getting the parathas ready.

A large pookkalam at Jagathy roadsid, put up by some boys.

A mini studio stall at the beach complete with a Nikon D 3100 camera, props and instant prinitng. The owner even offered to take my picture with my camera.

A decorated autorikshaw at Shankhumugham. Most autorikshaws are normally off the street during the Onam week.

A pookkalam in front of a church

Kathak performance by Raksha Singh and party at Vylopilli Bhavan

Who is the King of Kerala?

Kerala, bid adieu to feudalism many decades ago. Yet some organisations seem to think that Kerala is still under a King.

A Matsyafed bus on NH 47 with a 'T' missing. 'Govt. of Kerala Under aKing'

Koodiyattam, A two thousand year old art form

Maya Seethankam by Shaktibhadra.

 Koodiyattam, a 2000 year old dance form being performed in Thiruvananthapuram under the aegis of Drisyavedi. UNESCO has declared Kutiyaam as  one among the "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity". The male actors are from the Chakyar community and the female parts are played by Nangiars. Accompaniments are Mizhavu and edakka played by Nambiar men and kuzhitalam by Nangiars

Edakka and Mizhavu

Kuzhithalam

Homage to Dakshinamurthy

Master Mahadevan, an upcoming artiste renders kritis by Sri Dakshinamurthy at the Co-Bank Auditorium as part of the Soorya festival (from my phone camera) 

Schools or..?

Why do schools have entrances like prison gates?

Is it because of this? A liquor bottle in the school wall.

Sree chitra home

The sree home has a new metal roof. Somehow I liked the tiles. The metal roof is funtional but garish.

Taken with my phone camera from a nearby theatre

Erosion at the cemetery

Erosion and garbage at the Pattoor cemetery

As you drive West on the busy road  from General Hospital towards Pettah / Chakka, the cemetery at Pattoor hits you right in your eyes, as the road forms a narrow kink here. The road can neither be realigned or widened because of this cemetery. Now the cemetery is affected by erosion during the monsoon and dumping of garbage along its periphery. Earlier, 'The Friend in Society' building was partially demolished to widen the road on the Eastern side of this site. Click here to see the building before demolition and after.   

Puppet Show

Kerala has a dubious distinction of having a high suicide rate - almost 3 times the national average. Here a group of puppeteers at Vylopilli Samskriti Bhavan, Trivandrum, use puppet play to counter this trend. Other themes covered were, the evils of drinking, the benfit of good education, etc.

Amusing signs

Lube or Loop? A signboard on NH 47 at Kazhakuttam

The direction in which the state is going!

The direction in which God's Own Country and The Land of Memories is going

Rains in Trivandrum

The monsoon set in in its full glory on 3rd June. Being a Monday and first day of school, there were traffic snarls everywhere. Low lying areas were also inundated. 

Shops had little business on this rainy day,  but shopfronts were convenient shelters.

Honey and Mango Festival at Kanakakunnu

Kanakakunnu is usually a beehive of activities. This time, however, there were real beehives as part of the Honey and Mango festival. A great initiative and generally well organised. The entry fee was a nominal Rs.10. However, there were the usual problems of parking, poor layout etc. The crowd was manageable on Saturday morning. Wonder what it would have been in the evening.

It was great opportunity to see, pick, taste and choose many varieties of mangoes and honey.
Next time the organisers should think of better layout and parking facilities. (or should there there be offsite parking with pick up facilities?)
Another dangerous practice was workers carrying heavy crates of mangoes through crowds of visitors. Couldn't they have separate access for loading and unloading? 

Urban Forest in 100 square feet at Asian School of Business

The campus of Asian School of Business at Technocity is already well known for its energy efficient design. Now in an ambitious move, ASB has tied up with Afforestt a social business driven by young engineer Subhendu Sharma to have an urban forest in a thousand square feet. It is expected to have a 100 year equivalent growth in 10 year. See news report: http://bit.ly/13TEVIb.

ASB patron Mr George Thomas plants a sapling while Mr.Subhendu Sharma watches

Look out for updated photoes on the growth at: http://bit.ly/1coXT0x

Tree walk Trivandrum

Thiruvananthapuram is one of the greenest state capitals in India that I have lived in, but it is slowly losing its green cover due to the relentless pressure for development and other demands.
To sensitize the citizens of the city about trees, their role and their current status, some nature lovers of Trivandrum led by Anitha, Veena and Shanthi organised a tree walk from the museum gate to Nanthancode on Sunday, 28th April at 7 am.
The organisers and some enthusiastic volunteers identified several trees which many of us would normally ignore in a casual walk. Aana pulichi, pappadamaram, rain tree, rudrakhsa tree, manjadi, mara keera etc are some of the trees identified.

Another walk is scheduled for next Sunday, 5th May at 7 am from the Senate house gate towards legislative assembly.

Hope this idea will sustain and develop into a major social movement to keep our Trivandrum green.

Backward Front - an oxymoron

One of many wall paintings in Trivandrum The first line in Malayalam reads "Pinnokka Munnani", literally, Backward Front. An oxymoron, if there is one.

Roller skaters of Kawdiar

 

Roller skating is catching on like wild fire in Trivandrum. A small group of enthusiastic kids with their parents and coach were seen outside the Kawdiar palace gates. With the schools closed for summer, there is spurt in the number of skaters as can be seen from the pictures above. 

By the way, there was another small group near Enchakkal on the bypass service road. Whatever happened to them?

Tallest Flagpole in India

The tricolour flutters from the tallest flagpole in India at the Kanakakunnu palace grounds, Thiruvananthapuram.
This was due to the efforts of Mr. Naveen Jindal and The Flag Foundation of India. 
The flagpole, 206 feet high is perhaps the tallest in the country and was inaugurated in February 2013 after several uncertainties.

Pacman sunset

Anyone remember Pac-man, one of the early computer and video games? The circular PacMan with a wide mouth chomps pellets through a maze, while avoiding enemies who pop up at random.
This setting sun captured from a hillock on  Kunnumpuram near Kovalam resembles the Pac-Man.

Pac-Man like setting sun over Kovalam

Ambalamukku Srikrishna temple

Taken with my phone camera.

Temple Festivals 3

The very next day, on the highway between Pallipuram and kaniyapuram, we came across yet another temple procession.
This procession had people dressed up in Theyyam constume. Theyyam is a practice in the Malabar region and it is rarely seen in the Travancore area. Perhaps, the coverage in the media has given rise to demands on  the costume makers.

  The other costumes were Subramanya, Vishnu etc.

The woman in traditional burqua is not amused by all the fervour around.

Temple festivals 2

The other festival on the same day was near my house - the pongala at the Jagathy Mudippura Devi temple. Being a working day, I missed the pongla but could catch a glimpse of the function at night when the goddess was taken around in an elephant.

Sorry, I missed the elephant.

Temple Festivals

In a span of 2 days, I witnessed three different temple festivals, two of them serendipitously. 
The first one happened just outside my office. As we were driving out in the evening, we came across a procession of devotees from the nearby 'appooppan' shrine. they had all gone to the CRPF temple/church/ mosque complex to pray to lord Muruga.