The Many Colours

Red, Blue, green, yellow, Pink, [purple and I lost count as I looked on at the countless vibrant dunes of colors in the shop. ‘Holi’ the day of the colors is here and it’s a nightmare to be out on the street on this day. They won’t leave any one out, and no one knows an escape from the clouds of colors that rise from every nook and cranny of the street. It is mayhem and its totally unpredictable. It’s the one day you regret ever making friends as you don’t want them anywhere in a one mile radius near you. You don’t have a single safe place to hide safely from their sinister intentions; they infiltrate everywhere including your bedroom. The streets are the worst, you have no idea from where a bucket full of colored water will hit you and you have no escape from the rogue pichkari bearers running lose on the streets and what not.  You are under street from the two foot toddler and they are more dangerous and reckless than their adult counterparts.

In short it is a wonderful and colorful day to live and its one hell of a festival to be part of. The celebrations are heart warming and the sense of brotherhood reverberating. Huh! I can hear the foot steps of my friends approaching my door now and guess what I have a surprise planned for them. Poor chaps they are expecting to a me hiding carefully from them and they are in for a surprise.

Happy Holi and let the colors lose and the spirits free.

PS: I have to see their faces! He! He! He!

Colours : A visit to Arakal Palace

When I recently visited the Araikal Palace in KannurCalicut , Kerala, What fascinated me more than the rich history that the place holds and a cameo appearance in a recent local flick is the rich colours that the  place had to offer, The white palace with rich sky blue lining and its colourful windows drew me to my camera like a fly to the lamp. I would have be so wrong if i said that that's all the place had to offer, but besides the colourful palace and its colourful windows were the colourful exhibition of paintings. A set of works by several local artists on the palace and its rich heritage, A fest of colours both intense and soothing. It was a colourful experience in all. A day of colour in the colourful city of kannur calicut!

For those of you who have no idea what 'Araikal' family means and holds in the history of India, A bit of an extract from Wikipedia ( I am no good in history, I flunked in more than once!). There you go a small but significant slice of India's colonial history.

Arakkal kingdom (Kingdom of Cannanore, Sultanate of Lakshadweep and Cannanore) was a former city-state on the Malabar Coast, ruled by dynasty of the same name. The ruling King was called Ali Raja and the ruling queen was called Arakkal Beevi.^[1] The king's palace, which he purchased from the Dutch in 1663, was named Arakkal Palace after the ruling dynasty.

In the 17th century, one of the Padanairs (generals) of Kolathiri, Arayankulangara Nair, converted to Islam and adopted the name Muhammad Ali.^[5] His wife was the daughter of Kolathiri, and they later came to be known as Arakkal.^[5] Muhammad Ali continued in the service of the Kolathiris even after his conversion, and his successors known as the Mammali Kidavus were the hereditary Padanairs of the Kolathiri.^[5] Around this time, many Muslim merchant families became financially influential in the Malabar region. When the Arakkal family took control of Laccadives, they achieved near-royal status.

For more info visit: Arakkal kingdom

( all photos are taken by me and distributed under the creative commons licence : feel free to share, modify, use , distribute and whatever you fancy(make some money off it, please be my guest) and if its okay with you add m  name to the credits otherwise forget it)