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.

Other stories by V. Sasikumar
Text Editor : Sharmila Joshi

ಶರ್ಮಿಳಾ ಜೋಶಿಯವರು ಪೀಪಲ್ಸ್ ಆರ್ಕೈವ್ ಆಫ್ ರೂರಲ್ ಇಂಡಿಯಾದ ಮಾಜಿ ಕಾರ್ಯನಿರ್ವಾಹಕ ಸಂಪಾದಕಿ ಮತ್ತು ಬರಹಗಾರ್ತಿ ಮತ್ತು ಸಾಂದರ್ಭಿಕ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕಿ.

Other stories by Sharmila Joshi