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Austrians on Pongala trip to city

Photo: S. Gopakumar

GUESTS: Austrian tourists are seemingly curious about what goes into the Pongala offering pot.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the Wachau region of Austria there is a procession at the height of the wine-harvest season; farmers move in procession down the streets giving away wine and bread to those by the side of the road. But there is nothing that takes place in that idyllic region on the scale of an Attukal Pongala. For Doris Zizala — who along with her mother-in-law Karin and sister-in-law Johanna was in the city to witness the Pongala — the festival holds more meaning that just a confluence of lakhs of women. It is a sure indicator that traditions are being kept vibrantly alive; something that she herself passionately believes in and works for in her homeland.

The three women went for a short walk in the Fort area on Friday morning taking in the sights and sounds—and not incidentally the thick smoke — of the Pongala. Accompanying them was Andreas Heitmann, the owner of the Thapovan resort near Kovalam and the person who talked them into making a ‘Pongala trip’ to the city, and Herta Krueger, a family friend. Doris works for an organisation that works to preserve and popularise traditions that are being submerged in the surge of modernity. “There was a time when everybody wore jeans and drank cola. People were sort of ashamed to show their individuality. But things are changing. In many things, including in wearing traditional dresses, people are now prepared to be proud of their traditions,” she said.

Mr. Heitmann, who says he has become a “half-trivandrumite” over the years, shares Doris’ views on the importance of traditions and cultural practices. “I am wearing a ‘mundu’ because it is more comfortable,” he said.He said he was particularly concerned how festivals such as Onam are celebrated more on television and less as a coming together of the people. The Pongala is particularly significant because the common people participate in it in large numbers

Later the women joined those offering Pongala near the Vazhappally junction.

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