THRISSUR: While a majority of people in Kerala were stuck in their own homes due to Covid-19 restrictions despite having Onam holidays, tens of thousands of Malayalis from different parts of the world joined the Facebook live of Ayyanthole Pulikali Sangham on Thursday to watch a virtual performance of the folk artform, creating history.
Addressing the virtual pulikali, Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar appreciated the efforts taken by the Ayyanthole group in organising the event online. “Our lives will be divided into pre- and post-Covid days. Due to the restrictions, we were forced to cancel all celebrations of the world-famous Thrissur Pooram and conducted it with just rituals. Marriages are being conducted without any celebrations these days. Now, pulikali was also organised without the gathering of people at Swaraj Round, but we could carry forward the spirit of the festival,” he said.
Pulikali helped in promoting the art of body painting and the folk artform, he said, and appreciated Ayyanthole Pulikali Sangham which had also ventured into organic vegetable farming this year and even sold the yields for Onam to the public.
T N Prathapan, MP, also joined the virtual pulikali and appreciated the efforts taken not to break the tradition of the folk artform this year despite the pandemic threat. Noted caricaturist Jayaraj Warrier and cine actor Sunil Sugatha, among others, also joined the virtual platform.
Painted in yellow, white and black stripes, 20 tigers mesmerised pulikali fans around the world as they danced to the rhythm of percussion instruments standing in their courtyards. It became a different experience for the nearly 50,000 people who gathered before their gadgets to witness the virtual pulikali and many of them expressed their happiness and nostalgic memories through their comments in the Facebook live page. To come online, the performing group had even made their own tripods using wooden logs to keep the mobile phones static during the performance.