Onam pageantry rediscovers its fanfare

Thiruvananthapuram: The Onam pageantry that was attracting lesser footfalls for the past few years has re-discovered its fanfare as four lakh people thronged to catch a glimpse of it on Sunday.

The spectacle started from Manaveeyam Veedhi near Vellayambalam at 5.30 pm after Governor P. Sathasivam flagged it off. An enormous crowd had gathered at Museum by 3 pm itself. Shutterbugs and families occupied tall buildings and flyovers at Thakaraparambu.

“My family moved to the city only last year as I got placed in Technopark. I went to my hometown at Malappuram and returned on Sunday to catch a glimpse of the pageantry which I had watched only on television,” said Ajmal Riyas, a techie.

Tourism minister A. C. Moideen handed over the musical instrument ‘kombu’ to the performer declaring the culmination of the weeklong celebrations. A cavalry of 100 men in traditional attire and holding ‘muthukuda’ followed.

The floats on e-learning by the education department and responsible tourism float by tourism department were eye catchers. There were floats on drug abuse awareness and organic farming.

Thiruvanthapuram district panchayat got first prize in local bodies’ category for their float on Mahabali being bitten by stray dogs.

Farm information bureau got award for their float under government department category whereas Chalachitra academy won award in Public Sector category after the pageantry.

Traditional Kerala and South Indian art forms like Theyyam, Katha-kali, Padayani, Velakali, Neelakavadi, Pookk-avadi, Kolkali and Garudanparavu enthralled the spectators. “Such kind of pageantry refreshes our understanding of traditional art forms. So I have bought my children to watch it,” said Kumarapuram resident Varghese M. Apart from pageantry, several cultural programmes featuring celebrities like Manju Warrier and violinist Balabhaskar also had excellent attendance.

Ms Warrier presented a combination of nirtha and nrithya Tharangam, which is a traditional art form of Kuchipudi taken from Yati Narayana Theertha’s Sri Krishna Leela Tharangini.  The packed audience applauded her performance on pranks of SreeKrishna and Kaliyamardhanam at Nishagandhi.