THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Shanghumugham beach witnessed a huge crowd of people offering bali on Wednesday. With sea erosion during the last few weeks considerably reducing the beach area, devotees had to wait for many hours.
Even those who came in the early morning had to stand in long queues. About a thousand devotees thronged the bali mandapams of the Devaswom Board. The lifeguards had a tough time dealing with the devotees who tried to cross the restricted area. “We are effectively managing the crowd, but some people yell and shout at us as they want to spend more time in the sea,'' said lifeguard Ramesh Kumar. Some of the lifeguards complained that they were not given any food by the authorities while they were doing their job.
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According to Alphonse A, a resident of Shanghumugham, the crowd was lesser than in previous years. He said, "I believe many have stayed away due to the rough sea. Also, there were 100 priests earlier, now there are only eight to do the rituals.”
Some people were happy with the arrangements. “I have been doing bali at the Shanghumugham for the past 10 years. Also as per Hindu culture, we have to immerse the offerings in the sea and doing the rituals here gives me relief,” said 75-year-old Leela V.
Chandrasekharan T, who hasbeen coming to Shanghumugham for the past 30 years, spoke about the delay in completing the rituals. Maniyan P, a 50-year-old devotee, expressed his fear of the rising tides. “We didn’t want to take the risk as some people had fallen due to the high tides,” he said.