Vallamkali - The Snake Boat Race of Kerala

Vallamkali - the Snake Boat Race is the most fascinating event of the 10 days Onam festival. To promote tourism in Kerala, during the 10 days of Onam festival such events are conducted. This particular event is becoming more and more popular every day. India's first prime minister - Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, was the main person behind the popularity of the race and he was the person, who initiated the trophy for the race too.

The Vallamkali boats are not ordinary boats. They are about 100ft long which can seat about 150 people. Out of the 150, 125 people are oars men and 25 people are singers.  The boats are made mainly of the tree of Anjili or teak or Kadama. The ends of the boats are made to resemble the cobra hoods which gave the name to these boats. The boats belong to individual villages and not to any individual person. The men folk of the village alone are allowed to touch the boat and can get into it with bare feet. The boat is regarded high and is worshipped as a deity.

The Vallamkalis are decorated with colourful umbrellas. The boats are repaired annually and a carpenter is allocated specially for doing so. The boats are lubricated regularly with a mixture of different items to keep the woods of the boat strong and to move swiftly in water. The boats are kept ready to swim any time.

Just before the race, a priest offers pujas to Lord Mahavishnu and Mahabali and the boats are launched in the water ready to race. The boat race is held in the rive Pamba at Aranmulla. About 30 boats participate in the event. The race is conducted for a stretch of 40 kms from the hills to the low lying plains. The boat race is conducted on the 5th day of the 10 days of Onam celebrations. All the oars men are dressed in dhotis and turbans singing the traditional Vanchipattu. The rythm of the song along with the splashing of oars in the water gives great enthusiasm to the oarsmen.

The oarsmen display great team spirit which tells all the viewers how important it is to be united and work in harmony to reach the goal. Mistake made by one single person out of the 125 people will overturn the boat. (Though for a long time only men participate in the boat race, now a days even women too participate with great enthusiasm).

All through the 10 days, a boat laden with food - Palliodam sails from Katoormana. The boat that wins the race gets the previlage to accompany the Palliodam. It is a great site to watch the well lit boats in the night which can be easily spotted even from a very long distance.
Every year Nehru Trophy is awarded to the winners of the race that is held in the Punnamada Backwaters. 

Uttarayan - The kite festival of India

During Makara Sankaranthi, the International Kite festival takes place in Gujarat. It is a very unique festival in India whence the whole sky is filled with kites from dawn till dusk. The festival marks the going off of winter and setting in of summer. Not only the people of the state but kite makers and kite flyers from all over the world participate in this festival. Kite making competition, Kite flying competition, Kite decorating competition all take place.

Kite Spools at Patang Bazaar

The sky will be crowded with all shapes and sizes of kites. The kites are made of springy bamboo frames, kite paper and spool. The string of the kite is coated with a special mixture of glue and glass and is made sharp as possible to cut the strings of the rival kites. The streets of the bazaars of Ahmedabad are crowded with the kite supplies as early as the month of November and the Patang Bazaar of Ahmedabad is open for kite lovers for all 24 hours the week preceeding the kite festival.

The wonderful thing of this kite festival is that the whole family set to fly the kites and compete with other families. Special foods like laddoos, undhyu, Surat Jamun and lots of other Gujarati Special items are prepared and shared with friends, neighbours and relatives.

From the year 1989, Ahmedabad hosts the International Kite Festival as a part of the celebration of Uttarayan. Master kite makers and flyers from all over the world demonstrate their unique skill. The kite festival witnesses Malaysian kite makers who make Wau-Balang Kites, Indonesian kites of LLayang - LLayang, Banner kites from USA, Rokkaku fighting kites from Japan, Sculptural kites from Italy, Flying dragon kites from China.

Sonepur Cattle Fair - Bihar

Sonepur Cattle Fair,Bihar,  is one of the famous events of India. The fair takes place in the month of November during the Kartik Purnima time and lasts for upto fifteen days.This is the biggest cattle fair of Asia and all through the time of the fair, there happens lots of festivities.

How to reach:
Sonepur, in Bihar is well connected by road with the nearby towns and cities. Somepur is about 25kms from Patna which is well connected with air, road and rail with the other parts of the country.

Special Attractions
The temple of Harihar Nath is visited by all the visitors of the fair every year. Taking a ritual bath in the waters of river Gandak. There are lots of other small temples also around Hariharnath temple. This is a very old temple which is recently renovated by Birlas.

The mela ground is full of shops which display all types of garments, furnitures, toys, utensils, jewelery, handicrafts, weapons and lots more.

Though this is a cattle fair, one can find lots of elephants lined up for sale in the Sonepur fair. We can say that this is the only fair where large number of elephants are sold.

The district of Sonepur is like a triangle and is in the northern Bihar. The district is surrounded by Ganga, Gandak and Ghagra.