Kerala Tourism kept fireworks off

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is said that Kerala Tourism had sold even Christmas to the West. This is a light way of saying that there is nothing about Kerala the state tourism’s salesmen had not managed to sell the world. But here is the surprise: Never have they attempted to peddle fireworks, a staple of almost all religious festivals in the state.

In virtually none of the videos of innumerable festivals uploaded on Kerala Tourism’s official website there are visuals, or even sounds, of fireworks. It is almost as if the Department had taken great pains to keep this aspect of the state’s pageantry hidden.

Even in the video for Thrissur Pooram, which is not complete without the fireworks, the display is shown for just a couple of seconds. As for Uthralikkavu Pooram and Nenmara Vallengy Vela, where fireworks are as important as in Thrissur Pooram, there is not even the sound of fireworks in the background.

“We have consciously avoided showing fireworks as a major attraction,” said Tourism director T V Anupama. “Further, there is an unpredictability to the event. It is not just the dangers involved but also because the display depends on whether proper security measures have been put in place,” she said. The director also said that tourists, especially foreigners, were not keen on pyrotechnic spectacles.

“It was a conscious decision to avoid fireworks,” said Hari M R, the managing director of Invis Multimedia that made the films for Kerala Tourism. “The then tourism secretary Dr K Venu had told us that if at all we have to show the fireworks it can be done only after we are able to arrange enough safe places for tourists around the fireworks site,” he said. Fact is, even now there are no such safe enclosures for tourists.