While roaming around Trivandrum i saw the city being decked up for the annual event of Attukal Pongala . Colours of all hues brighten up the city, people of all shades put in their efforts to appease their  Attukal Amma, come Sunday. Enthusiasm all around, I for once was humbled.Everyone is playing their part in equal measure. From the big shopping malls to the road side vendor every one lines up to make something for themselves and also play a part. The huge line of pots along the roadside is something one cannot miss, but for being blind. Men and women display their pots of all sizes to devoted women in the hope that the offering would well be cooked in their pots.

I stopped by for a snap and also some chit chat with one of the vendors. Hearing Sivan(name changed) tale was as as good as it gets though a bit cliched.

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Hailing from Neyattinakara on the border with Tamil Nadu this gentleman along with his mom and grandmother has been selling pots which is procured from Tamilnadu for the past 15 years. A porter by profession Pongala is his gateway to some quick money courtesy Attukal Amma’s blessing. Its a refreshing change he says from the back breaking work to that of a pot seller. He will go back with money and satisfaction too for Amma’s blessing in helping out the gentle womenfolk to carry out thier offering will in no way go unnoticed . This is is his slice of destiny and  I for a moment closed my eyes in divine reverence.

The sixth iteration of Tech A Break will come to an end today with  the fashion show. This annual celebrations of the employees of technopark is the occasion where the techies take a break from their tight schedules and enjoy to the core. Each moment in Tech a Break will remain in their minds for the next one year.

photo courtesy: Aneesh Vallery NEST

The main attractions of this years tech a break included the Rally,Dance Competition and the Benney Dayal in concert Rock Show.

The much awaited deal is now open to get hosted. BSNL 3G Services will be officially inagurated in Trivandrum tomorrow.

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Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor will inaugurate the BSNL’s 3G mobile services in Trivandrum tomorrow (February 27) at the VJT Hall at 2 p.m. He will be inaugurating the service by making the first call to Mayor C. Jayan Babu, a release said.

3G services in Thiruvananthapuram will cover 185 towers from Attingal in the north to Neyyattinkara in the south which have been equipped with 3G connectivity. This service will enable 2.65 G3 subscribers to avail the latest 3.5G technology.

Using the 3G services, one could make video calls, access the internet with speed up to 3.6 Mbps, watch live TV on mobile handsets and download contents. As per BSNL plans,

• Internet browsing will cost 1 RS/Mb

• Video calls can be done at 30 paise/min.

• A recharge of 120 Rs can provide 6 months validity with 20 Rs usage.

• 50 free video calls and 25 MB internet usage

If this if your first “Attukal Pongala” experience in Trivandrum, you are in for a treat. The day in the city when most bachelors survive on maggie. The whole city turns festive with women folk lining up in HUGE numbers in the sides of the roads to make “Pongala” and offer it to the Gods on this day.

“Pongala” is a sweet recipe prepared using rice, jaggery and coconut in earthen pots and offered to the Devi of Attukal.

About the Attukal Devi Temple

Attukal Devi Temple, more popularly called the Attukal Bagavathy Temple is located near the Sree Padbhanabha Swamy Temple. This temple is one of the oldest Devi Temples in South India with Goddess Bhagavati (a form of Parvathi) as the presiding deity. Goddess is considered as “amma” (mother) by many giving her the name, Attukalamma. This place popularly known as the “Sabarimala of Women”, is most popular for the festival – “Attukal Pongala” held in the malayalam month of Makaram – Kumbham (Feb-March).

Attukal Pongala got its international fame when it got into the Guinness Book of World Records in back February 1997 when around 1.5 million womenfolk donned the roads to offer Pongala to the Attukalamma.

Legend of the Attukalamma

It is said that a attukalamma appeared in the dream of a 12 year old girl of the Mulluveettil family and asked to create a home for her at a spot nearby marked by 3 lines. The temple was built at the exact same spot accordingly.

Reaching Attukal Devi Temple, Trivandrum

By Road

Trivandrum Bus Station is situated at around 2 Km from the temple at Thampanoor and the city bus stand at East Fort is around 1.5 km from Attukal Bhagavathi.

By Train

Trivandrum Central Railway Station is also location nearby in Thampanoor.

By Air

Valiyathura has the Trivandrum International Airport which is around 7 km from this temple.

Attukal Temple Contact Address / Location

Attukal Bhagavathy Temple
Manacaud P.O.,
Thiruvananthapuram – 695 009
Kerala, India
Phone Numbers +91-471 – 2463130 (Off) 2456456 (Temple)
Fax +91-471 – 2456457

Attukal Devi on the Map:

View Larger Map

There is a lot to be said about the festivity of Attukal Pongala, the extravagant 10 day celebrations, it will be another post

@KeralaTourism is doing things right on Twitter by constantly engaging with the world of Social Media. Today they organized a Tweetup at the Trivandrum Central Railway station to celebrate their recent online shoot and tweet campaign which involves tweeters taking photos of the Kerala branded Rajdhani Express and uploading it online with the hashtag #rajdhani

This train has been branded by the Tourism Department of Kerala Govt. for 6 months with everything Kerala. The train is expected to boost domestic tourism to Gods Own Country. The tweetup today at Trivandrum Central Station in Thampanoor saw more than 25 attendees making it one of the biggest tweetups in the city. When the train arrived in the station, it was an amazing sight with both twitter users and normal travellers whip out their cameras and take pictures in front of Kathakali, Mohiniaatam, Chinese Fishing nets, Kovalam beaches and other Kerala sights.

Image Courtesy : @arunsadanand ,@rejigl

The tweeps in Trivandrum are gathering at the thampanur central railway station today(23rd Feb 2010) evening for the first tourism specific Tweetup in the country. The tweeps will engage themeselves in taking the pictures of the branded Rajdhani express to participate in the Shoot and Tweet contest organized by Keralatourism.

This tweetup is initiated by the keralatourism’s twitter account @keralatourism as a part of promoting the shoot and tweet contest and the Go kerala campaigns. Keralatourism has taken a whole new branding idea by branding all the 17 coaches of the Rajdhani Express with Kerala Images.This Rajdhani Express will journey through almost all states of India till June 2010. It is expected to reach out to more than 3 crore people.

The Shoot and Tweet contest is a simple contest where twitter users can take photos of the branded Rajdhani express and upload it anywhere in the web and tweeting the link to them.

BENNY DAYAL, the new singing sensation performed along with Stephen Devassy, the renowned keyboardist at CROSSROADS, an intercollegiate event of Mar Baselios college Trivandrum on 26th of this month.

Benny Dayal redefined all the conventional aspects of performance. The show started off with a soft melody by Stephen Devassy and members of the Stone band. Then was the entry of someone whom we may feel is strangely addicted to caps and hats. Benny started off with the caustic flavor of Tamil folk, ”Maduraikku pokathedi”-an A.R.Rahman masterpiece. Later was the “blitzkrieg” via the songs of Rock On which clearly depicted the versatility of this singer.
Stephen Devassy and Benny Dayal jammed together to recreate many hits of the past decade into the gems of future.”uyire,uyire”,”nila kaikirathu” were few among the many. The jugalbandhi depicted a blend of varied emotions that made the conundrum sway their hands passionately. Their performance of popular dance numbers like “Pappu can’t dance” left the audience pumped and tapping their feet!
Benny dayal even gave a glimpse of his “Jacksonian attitude “with some cool moves of his.”TAXI TAXI” (cherry on ice cream) channelized the audience into an ecstatic frenzy and no one could stop themselves from dancing and shouting “POM POM” (an exciting game invented by Benny Dayal). It was a memorable night the whole of Trivandrum can carry in their hearts for a long time

Attukal Pongala celebrations, the much awaited 10-day festival at the Attukal Devi Temple is starting this weekend on February 20, 2010. The Pongala is on February 28, Sunday.
Various cultural programmes will be held on all days of the festival at the two venues inside the temple complex. Malayalam film actor Jayaram will inaugurate the cultural programmes on February 20. Kappukettu will be on February 21.

Purple Lounge which is fast turning out to be the best party spot in Trivandrum is out with a new event this weekend. Dance Revolution featuring DJ Mahi on 20th February 2010 from 8pm onwards. Free entry for couples so all you fresh off the valentines day celebrations, you know where to go

So folks, will you be there? If yes, lets catch up!

Crossroads one of the best Techno cultural fest in Kerala is back.This techno cultural fest organized by Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology Nalanchira. Crossroads ‘10 will be inaugurated at 5.30 pm today the 18th of February. Cine Star Indrajith Sukumaran will be the chief Guest at the event. The inauguration will be followed by Fashion show judged by the international fashion designer manuel albraan.

Crossroads provides a platform for college students to showcase their talents and it also provides an arena to compete against the best in the country. Crossroads is a remarkable example of a student organized event in South India. It is conducted entirely by the students.

MegaNite by Benny Dayal and Stephen Devassy on 21st is the main attraction of Crossroads this time.

This time Crossroads comes with almost 40 events and the total prize money is around 5 lakhs.

The list of Cultural Events

List of Technical evnts