Thiruvananthapuram: The day starts early for women who offer Attukal Pongala and ends late for sanitary workers cleaning up after the event. Imagine, then, the length of the day for sanitary workers who offer Pongala. One such person, K. Latha, was also to celebrate her birthday. “My birthday always falls on the Pongala day,” she said. After the Pongala, she, with the others on her team, would have to clean from Vallakkadavu to Ananthapuri Hospital via Enchakkal Junction, which would be around 3 km. Then there are the side roads. They would be covering 5 km.
All that work, on a day when she woke up at 3 am. “My daughter and I had to prepare breakfast,” she said. Not only that, she boarded a bus from Aralummoodu, Neyyattinkara, around 4.30 am, but had to get down at Karamana and walk more than 3 km till the Health Office at Sreekanteswaram. Junior health inspector Athira S. S., who was with her from Aralummoodu, says, “No autos were allowed to pass after Karamana in the morning, as there was a rush of devotees arriving.”
Ms Athira says that of 34 permanent staff at their circle, 24 are women and many of them offer Pongala. “Many health workers would make their offering elsewhere, and report for work by 1 pm,” she said. Every year, the cleaning activities would stretch till 11 pm, and sometimes into the next day, says Ms Latha. “Yesterday too, we were all on the street from the afternoon, cleaning. It is strenuous. But it is our duty,” she says.
