Anchuthengu- Anjengo

Inside the Anjengo Fort. 

A piece of land called Anchu thengu (അഞ്ചു തെങ്ങു ) was gifted by the Queen of Attingal to the East India Company. EIC built a fort there and as they could not pronounce the Malayalam name, they started calling it Anjengo. 

Manipuri dance at Nishagandhi

Manipuri Nata Sankeerthana by the troupe of Baisali Sarkar performing at Nishagandhi Festival, Trivandrum 

Kite Festival, Kovalam

350 kites made from recycled newspapers on one string

9th Century Cave Temple at Madavoor, near Sreekaryam

After having visited the cave temple at Vizhinjam, a couple of times, I decided to explore Madavoorpaara which is closer to my place of work, Asian School of Business, Technocity. 


Madavoor para houses an ancient Shiva temple of 9th Century C.E. Now it is under the care of the State Archaelogical department. It  is on Pothencode - Sreekaryam road. I took the Pothencode road from Vettu road junction on NH 47 at Kazhakootam (near the Sainik School). A sharp right turn at Kattayikonam takes you to the Sreekaryam road. (Incidentally, this is also a good road to take if you want to avoid the traffic snarl between Vettu road and Kazhakuttam on NH).  Madavoor para is within a couple of Kms. on this road on the left. There is a hand painted wooden board in Malayalam. A newly laid road takes you to the bottom of the rock temple.There are well laid steps to the rock. (could be slippery in monsoon). The last few steps on the rock could be a challenge for senior citizens.
 Pooja timings are from 6am to 10 pm and from 5-15pm to 6-30 pm . It was closed when we visited . So could not see the lingam and the inside carivngs of Ganapati and Subrahmanya. However the surrounding areas, including the nearby rubber plantations were soothing sights.Since it is not far from Technopark, it is well worth a visit if you can spare about an hour.

Bihu dance

 

Bihu dance from Assam at Vylopilli .

The Bihu dance is performed in Assam by most of the tribes during the Bihu festival which coincides with Vishu in Kerala and Tamil New Year (mid April) . Men and women in colourful costumes perform this vigorous dance . The songs depicting many themes, are accompanied by the dhol, a horn, and a bamboo reed instument besides the brass taal. 

Gavi, Eco tourism

Gavi

Gavi is still unspoilt tourist spot. It is about 200 Kms from Trivandrum. It is 26 Km from Vandipperiyar which is a small town between Mundakkayam and Kumili (for Thekkadi) .
The Kerala Forest Development Corporation offers eco tourism packages to this lovely spot. http://www.gaviecotourism.com/index.html
The booking for the package can be done at their counter in Kumili and also on the website. However, on has to buy the entrance passes at the Vandiperiyar Forest checkpost as this comes under the Periyar tiger Reserve.
The package includes, breakfast, lunch and dinner, overnight stay, trekking, boating and a jeep safari. Overall, it was well organised and the staff was very friendly and helpful. I also liked the Forest department involving the local community in all the activities as guides, maintenance staff etc. Since we went during the off-season, we could see only a few elephants and bisons. Despite all precautions, including leech socks and  liberal appilcation of salt, we were bitten by leeches during the trek. Beware, medical facilities are very limited and telephone cennectivity is very poor.Overall we were satisfied, but I came away with the feeling that tourism is being emphasised at the cost of ecology and safety.
More pictures can be viewed at:  Gavi Pictures


Reception area

Herd of elephants

Rajasthan Crafts Fair

The third craft fair was the Rajasthan Craft Fair at the Rajsekaran Nair (Police) Stadium by the Rajasthan Hastakala Samiti.
The exhibits were very similar to the ones in the VJT hall, including the Orissa tribal painitngs.