Happy Pooram!

   It quickly became clear to us that the Pooram is also a major commercial festival. Plenty of stalls selling plastic toys, and of course the famous snacks and drinks offered row after row. Hundreds of thousands of people attend, so it's also a great opportunity for some advertising clutter. We get printed sun visors, bottles of water and fans pressed into our hands from all sides. We made grateful use of these. It was hot, tremendously hot, the sun was burning on our heads and in our eyes. Sweat was visibly dripping from all those bodies and clothes were soaked. So anything that could provide some cooling, was taken advantage of.

Later that the day, Simon was accosted by someone from the Central Bank of India, who wanted to take a selfie with him.....

   After the first events, we started getting pretty hot. By now it had been 12pm and the temperature in the shade had reached 35 degrees. We had seen a restaurant with air conditioning a bit earlier in the day, when we were still looking for breakfast, so we decided to check it out. The menu was somewhat limited: biriyani in a few variants: egg biryani, chicken biryani and beef biryani. Veg biryani was on the menu, but unfortunately for Jaklien it was not available today. Jaklien therefore chose the egg biryani and I went for my favourite: chicken biryani. Less than a minute after emptying our plates, the bill was on the table, as always actually. The message then is clear: Make way for new guests. During the Pooram, everything here is about mass production.

   After lunch, it was time for us to take an afternoon nap. Finding a spot in the shade still proved difficult, as hundreds of others had the same idea. Eventually, we found a spot where we could at least sit, and even lie down for a while, lounging. Around four o'clock, we decided to walk the stiffness out of our bodies. We knew the highlight of the day was still to come, the Kudamattom, a kind of competition in which people on top of elephants exchange colourfully decorated umbrellas rhythmically and whipped up by the music. However, we had no idea where it was going to take place. And in that case, it's easiest to just follow the mob.

   Arriving at the right place, we were somewhere far back at the edge of the festival grounds. Good chance we would not be able to witness anything of the whole thing. We did see a VIP stand, which was largely empty. That's where we wanted to sit. But well, we had no tickets. And how to get there....

However, fate did not abandon us: a friendly elderly man from Thiruvananthapuram pointed us out to the omnipresent police, and before we knew it we were being pulled aside and shown the way to the VIP entrance. We passed some heavily guarded gates, where only white tourists were allowed in. Another man, who had his elderly mother in tow and was showing us the way, was firmly turned back.

   After showing our passports, we were given free admission tickets, a bag of goodies and a bottle of water. As before, we ended up sitting front row, this time among other western tourists. A campaign by the Tourism Board of Kerala, to promote tourism to this beautiful green state.

   Then the spectacle began. The first of the elephants came through the temple doors, much to the delight of those present. And with each elephant that followed, the cheers grew louder. Eventually, 15 of these yokels stood side by side on the steps in front of the temple. The musicians again walked in front of the elephants. And although the entire festival grounds were packed, the elephants were able to cross to the other side calmly (and side by side!). The crowd diverged like the Red Sea before Moses, only to fill up again behind the animals with even more spectators.

   Not much later, another elephant appeared in the temple gate, and again followed by 14 of its kind. On each elephant 3 riders (except the middle one, the largest, which had 4). And then the spectacle began. The musicians from both sides alternated in intensity, so did the rhythmic movements of the riders. And to the beat of the music and the rivalry, the parasols on top of the elephants were changed.
   What a huge logistical operation that must have been! Dozens of parasols were already folded waiting for their turn. Behind the elephants, you could see men walking with the huge sticks of up to 2 metres long. Furthermore, people were walking carrying half-trees so that the elephants had something to chew on during their long performance. And the umbrellas were interspersed a little later in the show with huge signs with images of gods, and of national symbols.

   It went on and on and on. Each parasol more beautiful and eccentricly coloured than the next. After more than an hour, it got dark pretty quickly. Bright lights on large poles provided adequate visibility, but then images with lights on top of the elephants came on and the lights went out from time to time. The longer it continued, the more enthusiastic the crowd became and started cheering at the changes, which alternated between the two rows of elephants.

   In the end, the whole thing lasted over two and a half hours, and it did not bore us for a second. Afterwards, we were simply still baffled by the phenomenon we had just watched. The atmosphere, the elation of the people, the enormous amount of work that went into making this possible, how smoothly everything went. And last but not least: how lucky we were to be able to sit on the VIP stand so close to the elephants in front of the temple! Because, I have to admit: If we would have stood, crushed in the middle of the field among over 100,000 people, the experience would really have been different, and quite a bit more challenging.

   After this amazing experience, it was time to get something to eat again. We decided to look for a more expensive-looking (4-star) hotel to find a restaurant there. Because at least there would be air conditioning, it would not be too crowded and (perhaps most importantly) clean toilets. Our destination was quickly found, and we enjoyed the peace and quiet, the coolness of the place and the all-you-can-eat buffet. Again, simplicity in the menu because of the pooram. Outside, we did hear the music still going on all the time. I suspect it would stay that way almost all night.

   Our booked return journey would not take place until one o'clock in the morning. It proved very difficult to find a airconditioned place to wait for the train to arrive. The heat was starting to bother us, combined with all the impressions and the long day we had already had. In the end, we went to the station. After hanging out on a bench for a while, with Simon in particular visibly struggling, we decided to queue up for the a/c lounge. In terms of temperature, it was very pleasant there, but all the good seats were taken, so we had to sit on rickety plastic garden chairs. And of course, our train too was late, so we did not leave Thrissur station until 1.30 am. While on the outward journey the compartment we were in was all but empty, this ride it was full of sleeping people. A snoring concert was our share during the train journey. After three we arrived back at the College, where we had to wake up the night porter to let us in.

   What a day! But so incredibly worth the effort and hardship.