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Foreign tourists enjoying the jallikattu held successful Alanganallur successful Madurai district. | Photo Credit: G. MOORTHY
All roads led to Madurai implicit the past week.
While radical moving extracurricular returned to their hometown for the expansive Pongal celebrations, for tourists, peculiarly from different States and overseas countries it was a full caller experience.
According to the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) officials, for Madurai the highest tourer play is from October to February. Lakhs of tourists, not lone from crossed the state but crossed the globe, flock to Madurai territory to witnesser the Pongal celebrations and the Jallikattu events. There is simply a 5% to 10% summation successful the numbers, Madurai District Tourism Officer T. Umadevi said.
On January 14, TTDC officials organised Pongal celebrations for tourists astatine Chathirapatti successful Madurai district. Last year, the lawsuit was held connected Mattu Pongal astatine Kalaignar Centenary Eru Thazhuvuthal Arangam successful Keelakarai adjacent Alanganallur.
The main nonsubjective of the lawsuit was to contiguous a sensation of Tamil contented and civilization to the visitors. The officials said that implicit the years the fig of registrations for the lawsuit had gone up. Also, tourists connected their ain were showing up for these events aft speechmaking astir them.
International students studying Tamil person besides shown their involvement successful knowing and learning astir the celebrations. Tamil students from the USA: Sriharan, Srihari, Sidharthan and Theo Johnson were astatine the celebrations organised astatine Chathirapatti.
Srihari, a Sri Lankan Tamil, said backmost location successful the USA his household would observe Pongal successful their house. He said it was his archetypal clip successful Madurai. He was excited to spot the full colony travel unneurotic arsenic 1 to observe the festival.
Theo Johnson said helium had done his homework beforehand. He had learnt astir the festival of harvest from his teachers pursuing which helium had work astir it connected his own.
Over 200 tourists from the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Netherlands and different countries were brought to Chathirapatti connected tourer buses. From the autobus stand, they were brought to the venue of the Pongal celebrations connected bullock carts. The bulls were decorated with flowers and ‘angavastram’.
At the venue, the visitors were welcomed with accepted arathis and Poornakumbham. They were accorded a lukewarm invited by children, who presented accepted creation and martial creation forms specified arsenic Bharatanatyam, Karagattam, Silambam, and different performances.
The tourists joined the artistes and danced to fashionable Pongal songs that were played astatine the venue. The tourists past prepared ‘Pongal’ with the residents. They relished the ‘Pongal’. They joined the residents successful drafting colourful ‘kolams’. They clicked photographs and selfies with the artistes and the ‘kolams’.
An accumulation was besides organised connected the premises. Traditional attire specified arsenic ‘veshti’ and ‘sari’ were displayed astatine the stalls. Traditional snacks and beverages were provided astatine the event.
Overwhelmed with the reception, the tourists said they felt precise welcomed successful Madurai. Some of them had besides shown up for the lawsuit successful accepted Tamil attire. Gianna Alexis of the USA said she and her friends had gone retired buying a time earlier truthful that they could deterioration the accepted formal for the Pongal celebrations. Folk artiste Pandi said it was different accidental for people artistes similar him to show their skills.
The organisers said each twelvemonth a caller colony was chosen for the event. There was nary fixed venue for the event. The lawsuit has go truthful fashionable that present colony heads and villagers were approaching the Tourism officials with the petition to prime their villages arsenic a venue for the pongal celebrations.
A fewer places are shortlisted and 1 among them is selected for the celebrations. The main nonsubjective is to supply opportunities to everyone and screen caller places, truthful that a caller spot is explored each year.
As portion of the tourism package, overseas tourists were besides taken to the celebrated Alanganallur jallikattu lawsuit connected January 17. Over 250 of them were taken to the event. However, galore tourists besides showed up connected their ain and were seated with the section residents to witnesser the bull taming sport.
Yotam Delayahu and Matthew Schonfeld, some from the USA, said this was their archetypal travel to India. Yotam said helium had decided to research South India and erstwhile helium searched online for the places to visit, helium learnt astir Pongal and Jallikattu successful Madurai.
He added Madurai to his itinerary. After visiting the temples successful and astir Madurai, helium besides celebrated Pongal with the section residents and showed up for the jallikattu event. He said helium was captivated by the full solemnisation and however the radical had travel unneurotic for the festival.
For him the main item of the lawsuit was the information of the autochthonal breeds that were reared by the section people. Matthew said helium has visited Spain and watched the bullfighting lawsuit there. However, jallikattu was an breathtaking and unsocial experience, helium said.
They added that they were impressed with however the injured bulls and bull tamers were swiftly provided attraction astatine the event. They said they had clicked galore photographs to amusement their friends backmost home.
For Ektor Coughanour and Kena Aldape, an aged mates from Mexico, it turned retired to beryllium a pleasant surprise. Their household person Vivekanandan from Puducherry invited them to India for the Pongal celebrations.
With the assistance of organisers successful Madurai, Vivekanandan took his friends to pongal celebrations and the jallikattu. The mates said it was a beingness changing acquisition for them. They said they had fallen successful emotion with Madurai and the celebrations associated with it. They added that they had learnt that it was historically and culturally significant.
They praised the bulls and the bull tamers for their courageousness successful facing the raging bulls. The mates said they would miss the section delicacies similar ‘Pongal’ and ‘Vada’.
The Tourism officials said they contented circulars, notices and advertisements astir the events, and administer them to hotels and question agents to make awareness. Each twelvemonth the fig of tourists registering for the lawsuit was increasing, they said.
Tourists connected their ain retired of involvement besides travel to Madurai aft speechmaking astir the events connected the internet, which was encouraging, they added.
