CULMINATION OF THE ONAM
CELEBRATION-2012
colourful pageant with a fantastic
collection of fancy dress characters, artistes and floats, but one which began
with a near-disaster, marked the culmination of the official Onam celebrations
in the city on Monday3rd September,2012.The procession, flagged off from near
the KELTRON office by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy sharp at 5 p.m., had just
started moving when a float presented by the Forests and Wildlife Department
suddenly caught fire, reportedly due to a short circuit. The incident, which
occurred barely 100 metres away from the flag-off dais, saw flames engulfing
the decked-up top portion of the lorry in less than five minutes even as four
persons who were standing on the float jumped off to safety. It was the sheer
presence of mind of a few policemen and a few members of the public that saved
the day for hundreds of people from the crowd who were standing close to the
procession as they quickly managed to bring the flames under control before the
fire spread to the diesel tank of the lorry, which was full to the brim. Even
as a fire engine managed to make its way through the crowd to the spot from
near the dais, the flames were put out and the Fire and Rescue Services
personnel just had to swathe the smoking vehicle in foam before pushing it away
from the crowd. The incident held up part of the procession for nearly 30
minutes, but the merriment was back soon after, as the rest of the procession
slowly floated by.
Three elephants, tiny tots on roller
skates, Mohiniyattom dancers with colourful umbrellas, a ‘chenda melam’ team
and several traditional dance artistes led the procession from the front,
followed by several eye-catching floats.A large number of people lined the
streets on a day that saw even the rain taking a break for most of the time.
Prof. John Kurakar
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