Watch video: 'Today, we have around 300 chariots. But the number can rise every year...'

In the villages along the backwaters of Alappuzha district in Kerala, children get together every year to make k uttikkuthira – a compact chariot – during the Aswathi temple festival . The coastal regions of Kerala raise lakhs of rupees every year for each chariot – big and small – without any state support. Around February-March, hundreds of these chariots trundle along the streets of the villages.

PHOTO • V. Sasikumar


PHOTO • V. Sasikumar


Children and adolescents, along with their entire coastal communities, participate in kuthirakettu (the ritualistic chariot procession) with great enthusiasm. The film featured here covers the journey of a chariot and its makers in Karthikappally village of Alappuzha district.

V. Sasikumar

V. Sasikumar is a 2015 PARI Fellow, and a Thiruvananthapuram-based filmmaker who focuses on rural, social and cultural issues.

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Text Editor : Sharmila Joshi

শর্মিলা জোশী পিপলস আর্কাইভ অফ রুরাল ইন্ডিয়ার (পারি) পূর্বতন প্রধান সম্পাদক। তিনি লেখালিখি, গবেষণা এবং শিক্ষকতার সঙ্গে যুক্ত।

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