Kerala Cuisine- Simple Living.

Kerala Cuisine- Simple Living

Kerala Cuisine and Recipes.

Kerala Cuisine and Recipes.

Rs 300 crores Tourism Investments in Kerala

http://in.news.yahoo.com/sant-chatwal-invest-rs-300-crore-kerala-resorts-100205535--finance.html

Raja Ravi Varma : The painter who was Royalty in Trivandrum

The Napier Museum has a collection of paintings by Raja Ravi Varma one of the most renowned artists from India. He was a member of the Royal family of Travancrore. Travancore or Thiruvathamcore the name by which Thiruvananthapuram was originally known.
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Kerala Tourism Update

Kerala before it is houseful!!

Songs from Kerala: Film music - Thumbayum, thulasiyum

This song from the movie Megham captures the Kerala landscape beautifully. Girish Puthencherry provided the lyrics which were tuned by Ousepachan.

Kerala Tourism: Top ten destinations

A survey by a magazine has ranked Kerala as a top tourism destination much ahead of Rajasthan, Goa , Phuket and Bali.
 Read up to know more
http://news.in.msn.com/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=4327531&page=1

Kerala Tourism : Empanelment of Agencies for 2010

http://www.afaqs.com/perl/news/story.html?sid=27549_Kerala+Tourism+empanels+seven+agencies+for+its+creative+and+media+duties

TEMPLE TRAIL: SOUTH INDIA - KERALA - SABARIMALA

 Sabarimala Temple in the Sabari Hills and the Ayyappa cult.
http://mayanmuse.blogspot.com/2010/01/one-pilgrimage-that-hindus-and-muslims.html

Innovative Tourism Capmpaigns: Kerala Tourism

Converting an off season into an on season is almost impossible. Rate cuts are the known tactic and this poses the risk of eroding the exclusivity and the luxury/premium tag the destination and the property enjoys. The "Dream season in God's own country" attempted to do just that and it worked. Titled "Kerala within your reach" it roped in 177 industry partners to provide value for money packages.The target audience was not the upmarket foreign traveler, but the cost conscious domestic tourist. The off- season seemed the right window for them in terms of timing and solved the issue of diluting the equity and cannibalizing the foreign market. The effort resulted in a 15.2% increase in arrivals during the off season and provided a fillip to the industry partners in the middle and lower revenue segments.
This campaign won the Gold Award in Marketing at the PATA Travel Mart 2009 (Pacific Asia Travel Association) from among 236 such entries. The campaign was designed by Stark Communications which has been handling this account for more than a decade. The Director of Tourism is Mr Shivshankar IAS, my senior from the Institute of Rural Management Anand.
click here to read mote.
click here to see the campaign.

Kerala: Onam Visuals and Songs

Thiruvathirakali is the traditional dance performed during the Onam festival.

KERALA, INDIA : THE ONAM FESTIVAL

Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala.This year there may not be much to cheer about but the Malayali never lets anything come in the way of celebrating this festival. You find families coming together, gifts being given to friends, grand "sadyas"(feasts), children and girls playing on swings which are tied from trees, decorations of flowers in the front yard of houses on all 10 days of the festival.Traditional art forms like kaduvakali are in evidence on the streets. Snake boat races are part of the pageant.It is believed that the legendary king Mahabali who ruled Kerala in ancient times and was banished by Lord Vishnu into the netherworld is allowed to visit Kerala and his subjects every year in recognition of his nobility and concern for his welfare and erstwhile kingdom.

Onam is a great time to visit Kerala and would compare to visiting Brasil during the Carnival, though the celebrations are more restraint and conservative:)

IN CASE YOU WISH TO SEE THE FULL CARD DOUBLE CLICK ON THE VISUAL

Silent Valley in Kerala: Not Silent Anymore - Gangahdaran Menon

Click here to read about "Silent Valley" an evergreen forest in Kerala which is still evergreen thanks to the grit, determination and commitment of a lot of people in Kerala like Gangadharan Menon, who made sure that it did not make way for another senseless onslaught on nature.

TEMPLE TOURISM: INDIA, KERALA,TRISSUR - Elelphant race in Guruvayoor

Elephants are donated to the temple. This is referred to in local parlance as "nadakiruthal".The elephant is used in many rituals at the temples and often in festivals.The most famous of the elephants is "Guruvayoor Kesavan" about whom a movie has also been made!! Children, especially male, are often taken under the trunk and between the legs by a mahout, since the belief is that it cures the child of fear! A ring made of elephants hair, is considered a talisman(anavaal mothiram)!!



For the devotees, the elephant race is a big event and in spite of the pachyderms having a history of going amok, they seem to turn out with children in tow to watch this event. Guruvayoor so far has not had an elephant misbehaving.



The mahouts run from the temple carrying the bells that the elephant is to wear for the race and the race begins!
















TRAVEL TO GURUVAYOOR: Guruvayoor is located within driving distance of Trissur in Kerala, India. Guruvayoor temple authorities allow only practising Hindus to enter the temple and pray. Non-Hindu's pray outside the premises. Domestic tourism in India is largely driven by religious tourism. Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh is one of the most popular temples and attracts millions every year and makes Andhra Paradesh one of the top domestic tourism destinations. Guruvayoor in Kerala is fairly popular among South Indians.Sabarimala is another well known destination which is open only in the winter season. The season ends culminating in the Makara Vilakku(January 14th) prayers. Here you find only male devotees and there are abstinence rituals and disciplines to be followed prior to undertaking the pilgrimage.Men typically wear black clothes and do not shave till the visit to the temple is over.
Kerala Tourism Board has a web site which can be googled easily and will provide further details.


Photographs have been taken by SMEVINS PHOTOGRAPHY.For any queries regarding commercial use kindly write to smevinp@yahoo.com