As the monsoon recedes partially, a pink blanket of waterlily flowers is slowly making its way up the backwater landscape of Kottayam.
Malarikkal village in Kottayam has kick-started preparations to welcome tourists who are set to swarm the polder banks here to catch the breathtaking view of sun rising over a sea of flowers . A tourism festival to celebrate the annual flowering season at this backwater village - epicenter of the pink bloom - will begin on Tuesday.
District Police Chief K Karthik will formally inaugurate the fest at a function to be held here at 8 am. Thiruvarppu grama panchayat president Ajayan K. Menon will preside.
According to K.Anil Kumar, convenor, Meenachil-Meenanthara-Kodoor river relinking programme which organises the festival, the event will be held in about 1,000 acres of paddy fields in the village’s interior, where the lily bulbs have begun to bloom since the onset of the monsoon. With people already beginning to pour into the location in huge numbers and destroying the flowers by plucking them, the organises have put in place a set of restrictions.
“The widespread plucking of flowers, which can be viewed from the road, will spoil the charm of the festival itself. Malarikal is a small village in the Vembanad backwaters that does not have the capacity to accommodate people in huge numbers at the same time. Hence, it is up to the visitors to regulate themselves,” he said.
The new regulations stipulate the visitors to buy flower bundles from local residents and park vehicles only on designated spaces. Pay-and-use bathroom facilities are available in some houses.
People can visit the place from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on all days till September 10, when the farmers are scheduled to drain the polders for the next season of cultivation. Anticipating a heavy rush , the organisers have also arranged boat rides along the Kanjiram-Vettikkat water route.
The event is being organised in association with the Thiruvarp panchayat, J Block - Thiruvaikari paddy polder committees, Kanjiram service cooperative bank and Malarikal Tourism Council. The Tourism department and the district administration are also cooperating with the initiative.
