I took nearly 10 days off from my work and was in my native for the Pongal Festival. I would say that this is the most important festival in Tamilnadu more than Diwali and others. People be with their dear ones and enjoy throughout.
And, this would be more colorful in the Villages where there would be a lot of functions, entertainments, et all. I also hail from a beautiful village, Nallur, Tirupur. But, we moved to township when I was in my 9th grade. But, we keep visiting my village often. Pongal is one festival which would be celebrated by everyone over there and we young guns organize a lot of fun activities for close to 3 days.
Starts with some athletic races for the kids, to musical corner for ladies, housewifes, and mother-in-laws. For males, we do have the authentic "Valukku maram" and "Uri adithal". It was really fun to watch these. Below are some snaps of my Village Shiva Temple and people gathering there to watch the "Valukku maram" yeruthal
Here is two more snaps shot with my HTC Touch when we went to Balaji Temple, Hills of VaalPaarai, Tamilnadu.
It was a great road trip on our new Mahindra Scorpio, but in the end while returning everybody were tired and the kids started vomiting because of the drive from the hill. It was the most difficult road I’ve ever driven, very steep hairpin bends, OMG!! In the end, all fine!
Cheers