THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: This year’s Attukal Pongala will have some added glamour. Miss World runner-up Parvathy Omanakuttan will be offering Pongala on Tuesday. As it happens, the day of the Pongala is also Parvathy’s birthday as her birth star ‘Makam’ falls on March 10. Her actual date of birth is March 13.
``Yes, this is a thanksgiving. I have always had a strong faith in God that has helped me to control myself in difficult situations. Right from my childhood, I always used to visit the Devi temple at Madapalli in Changanacherry,’’ said Parvathy, who, along with her mother, will be offering the Pongala right inside the temple.
``Thankfully, this time the temple authorities have arranged a special place for ten of us inside the temple,’’ said Sreekala, Parvathy’s mother.
``We will be coming on Saturday and are planning to visit all the temples, especially the Pazhavangadi temple, the Padmanabhaswamy temple and the Sreekanteswaram temple before the Pongala,’’ she added.
This is not the first time Parvathy and her mother will be offering Pongala. Just after she won the Miss South India crown and before winning the Miss India title, they had come to Ananthapuri. ``At that time, I had offered to come again if she won the Miss India crown,’’ said Parvathy’s mother. But, somehow, she did not make any promise on the Miss World crown.
Parvathy does not feel betrayed by God in not getting the Miss World crown, which even her co-contestants thought would be hers. ``Maybe I had a very small ‘pinakkam’, but I believe that God gives you not want you want, but just what you need - nothing more, nothing less. And I also believe that if God takes something away from your hands, it is to fill your hands with something even more greater,’’ she said.
They would be going back the next day after the Pongala as Parvathy’s brother is in the 12th standard and Sreekala wants to be with him for the exams.
Parvathy has had many offers from the tinsel town, but is yet to decide as she is waiting for guidance from God, in whom she has an absolutely unshakeable faith.
Let us wish that Attukal Devi will show her the way. Let us also wish her a very happy birthday.