When I was a small child, often my father used to narrate beautiful stories. He would tell me about faraway lands, myths, mysteries, kings, kingdoms and stories about real people. He also told me about the Indian history and I grew a strong interest in the Colonial Period specially. But it was the rich history and culture of the different places in India that made a mark on my mind.

With the college vacation starting, there were a lot of places in mind. But this time I wanted to explore Kerala. While doing my research and discussing with my friends, we came up with Thrissur. Since it was April, it was also the time of the famous Thrissur Pooram festival, which I wanted to attend, especially since it was the biggest Pooram festival in all of Kerala.

With all the ticketing done, one of our friend suggested that we stay at a homestay, since it would let us take in the real flavour of Thrissur and also witness the Pooram festival as it is celebrated by the people of Thrissur.

Once we reached Thrissur, we felt festivity in the air since the Pooram festival was just two days away. However, we had these two days to explore the city before the festival. And even we did not want to lose time with so many important historic and cultural places to visit.

The first temple that we visited was the Paramekavu Bhagavathy Temple. Here we had to wear the dhoti to enter the temple and thought it felt a bit awkward initially, but we friends thoroughly enjoyed this experience. We were completely amazed by the huge idol of Devi which almost instantly induces a sense of awe. Even at Thiruvambadi Krishna Shrine we had to sport the dhoti. This is a great place for the devotees of Lord Krishna. We had a fun time enjoying the prasad, the elephants and specially the music, which had the true flavour of Kerala.

Our next stop was the Athirappilly Waterfalls. The beauty of the gorgeous waterfall encompassed us and the water acted as an element of rejuvenation.

The next day we visited the archaeological museums, and all the stories that my father had told me as a child were getting alive in front of my eyes. I could relate a great deal of facts with the carvings and paintings. I could see the entire colonial and post-colonial rule in front of my eyes and I couldn’t be happier.

We ended the day with a visit to Kauthukapark. It was an amazing place which is artificially built to show the real beauty of God’s own country. The garden, the animals, the backyards were really beautiful.

The big day of the Thrissur Pooram festival had arrived. We were completely amazed at the huge crowd of people that had gathered at the Vadakumnathan Temple to attend this 36 hours non-stop festival. Legends has it that the Gods and Goddesses of temples in and around Thrissur visit the Vadakumnathan temple on elephants on this day. It was a spectacular sight. The elephant with the Gods and Goddesses were beautifully decorated with bells and umbrellas and they paraded with the enchanting music! The fireworks were the best part and it had so much of uniqueness in it. We just couldn’t get enough of the liveliness celebrated there.

Our trip was not only pleasant, but we also witnessed the true reason as to why Thrissur is called the cultural capital of Kerala.