New Year - WOW 2012

Judith, our fantastic host told us of the New Year procession going through the streets of Fort Cochin today. The town is going to be full of people from the neighbouring districts and she suggested that we avoid the crush and watch the parade from their friend’s balcony.  Wow – we have a ring side seat for the hottest ticket in town with a vantage point above the crowds.

Mel (Judith’s husband) told us that a 3pm start means nothing happens until at least 4pm and whilst waiting he gave us homemade wine and cake. At about 4 pm he took us up the road, introduced us to our host and promptly left to watch the procession on TV in the comfort of his home.

The sun was beating down, the crowd grew to more than 6 deep lining the road and the police shoved and cajoled the throng into some brief semblance of order. The women in the crowd were particularly striking as they stood in their bright and colourful saris.  Excitement mounted and the sound of the approaching drums announced the arrival of the procession.  Everyone jostled forward straining to see and the police busily shoved them back. 

The excited crowd get ready for the parade.

An enormous elephant led the parade and was followed by bands dressed in traditional outfits and sword fighters acting out complicated morris dancing sequences.  The noise of the drumming was loud and hypnotic as the procession moved past. 

Jumbo by name and by nature (for the eagle eyed).

The noise of the drummers was hypnotic

The procession included a beauty parade of ‘women’ dressed in their colourful finery and with immaculate make up.  Admittedly some of them looked a bit rough with big feet, thick wrists and misshapen chests but it was still a shock to learn that they were all men some of whom looked far too comfortable in their clothes and makeup.  In fact no women take part in the parade. 

Some of these chaps seem to know a lot about make up

All manner of floats passed by, each accompanied by their own sound systems and minders.   Some of the participants had obviously been working for weeks to build elaborate floats and costumes whilst other floats appeared to comprise blokes who had climbed on the back of a lorry at the last minute for a bit of a boogie.

Make your own mind up!

As time went on the crowd continued to press forward making it more difficult for the floats to pass by.  Many floats got stuck waiting for the crowd to be forced back to allow them to pass and as we watched, the sun started to drop with no end in sight for the procession. 

Prizes are awarded to the best floats and some of the entrants stood out, in particular a tank and soldiers all covered in a grey paint to resemble a statue of a national monument.  The men had to remain perfectly still for the duration of the parade which was especially hard with the snail pace progress.  A guy kept coming out to touch up the men and the tank with fresh paint as they dried out in the sun.

The winning float

Another float had warriors in kung fu poses balancing on posts and I don’t know how they kept their positions for the several hours it took to complete the parade.

I still don't know how they managed this.

I'll bet the guy in orange couldn't walk at the end

About 7 pm the procession came to an end and the crowd started to drift away which wasn’t easy because of the small side roads and the sheer number of people.  

The good natured crowd disburses

Our host advised us not to leave as purse and gold chain snatchers were known to exploit these jams. Not wanting to be rude we accepted an invitation to have a cuppa with our host, his friends and family.  Home-made wine, tea and fruit cake provided an excellent refreshment and we chatted happily for about 30 minutes until the crowds had disbursed. 

Our pictures don’t do justice to this amazing day.  The colours and the noise, the procession and the onlookers made for a memorable day and we are grateful to Judith for arranging our viewing and to her lovely friends for making us so welcome in their home and particularly on their balcony.