Kuzhippallam Botanical Garden

Wanna spend some time with beautiful flowers and buy some great flowering and non-flowering plants for your home? Head to Kuzhippallam Botanical Garden, which is just four km from Balaramapuram in Trivandrum. Turn right at Kannaravila on Balaramapuram-Poovar road.

It is a beautiful valley being transformed into a beautiful valley of flowers. The garden has dozens of variety of roses, orchids, cacti, etc. In addition, you can also find saplings of mango, guava, and jack fruit trees.

The garden is not fully functional till now and a lot of work is going on while I was there. Then again, if you are going to the southern parts of Trivandrum, it is nice to spend some time here - and take home some saplings to add to your garden.

Mango Festival in Thiruvananthapuram

Head to Kanakakkunnu Palace grounds in Thiruvananthapuram between 16th and 26th of June and discover mangoes coming in thousand different sizes, shapes and colors.

Thiruvananthapuram Mango Festival, being organized by Kerala Horticulture Mission and Mango Growers Association is going to a treat for both your eyes and your taste buds.

Read: Ananthapuri Mango Fest, June 16-26, TVM

The event will have mangoes cultivated in different parts of the country. I hope there will be more than a thousand varieties of mangoes. Oh, no hope of tasting them all. It is simply impossible. However, it is possible to see them all.

There will also be mango products - jam, pickles, mango drinks, etc on display. So, if you happen to be in Trivandrum during these eleven days, do visit the Mango Festival (Mampazholsavam - a festival of mangoes).

Kids Wish Vishu with Painting Exhibition

Today I walked in to the museum compound of Trivandrum, to pleasantly discover a nice painting exhibition. Titled 'Nirangalude Vishukkani', this painting exhibition is Vishu Greetings for the city people by the kids of different schools in Trivandrum City.

The Vishu themed painting exhibition had some very nice paintings, which captured the festive mood and colorfulness. A group of ladies plucking flowers from Kanikkonna (Indian Laburnum) is a nice painting. The dressing reminds you of dress culture of the past.

There is also the painting of a girl in a garden. The girl wears silk pavada and blouse. Very nice picture indeed.

There are a dozen other fine paintings, which will surely attract your attention. If you are in the city, do get out and have a look at the works of these young talents.

Organized by The Photographic Society of Kerala, the painting exhibition became a venue for school students to exhibit their talents.

Visitors to the exhibition (hundreds of them) appreciated the talents of the kids. The child artists are: Aarcha Kumudan, Nandana Aagi, Arya Nandana, Akshay, Abijith, Shikha Sivaraman, Prithvi, Aparna, Vishnu, Sudev Suresh, Sandra, Anjana Raju, Gopika, Sruthi, Prathibha, Shilpa Sivaraman, Rejra Robi, Abhishek, Gouthami, Aarsha Suseendran, Soumya, Jishin and Anand. All of the artists are students of different schools in the city.

I wanted to personally congratulate every one of the young artists, but they were not there while I finally showed up.

The exhibition is on till 17th April.

Solar Eclipse at TVM, Kanakakkunnu Palace

Wow, what a sight that is. Thousands thronged to Kanakakkunnu Palace grounds, and raised hurrays and ahas when they felt lucky enough to witness once in a millennium event, annular solar eclipse.

Elaborate arrangements were in place to witness the solar ecplise - like this Solarscope, which projects sun's image.

School Children from all parts of Kerala were present to witness the occasion. Scientists and teachers gave lectures on celestial events like solar eclipse, safety precautions to take while looking at the sun, etc.

Find pictures of the celestial event: Click Here...

DC Books Exhibition

Book lovers can head over to Chandrasekharan Nair stadium, where they are welcomed to a huge collection of over 100,000 titles by publishers around the world - India, Great Britain, United States, France, and almost all over the world.

There is a good collection of books in fiction, non-fiction, science, medicine, politics and every imaginable topic.

The book fair is organized by DC Books in association with ExtraMarks.com. This is the ninth edition. There are also various cultural events at the venue every evening. The book fair and cultural fest is on till Nov 10.

Handicrafts Expo at VJT Hall, TVM

VJT Hall in the city is now host to artisans from all parts of India. With over 50 stalls, the handicrafts expo has everything from murals to sofa sets. Artisans from different states in India have their stalls here.


The materials are all made from jute, bamboo, coir, wood and other natural materials. There are also special discounts of up to 10% for select merchandise. There are ornaments, sofa sets made from cane, mirrors with artworks, sculptures, curtains, and a lot more.

Wooden sculptures come in different shapes. They surely will make for a good addition to serious interior decoration buffs. There are metal lamps, murals and variety of other decorative items.

Yeah, sure, there are some cool variety of items like metal lamps studded with semi-precious stones, wood carvings, clothing materials and a good range of decorative stuff for the home.




SMSM Institute is the organizer of the event. It is on till November 9. Visitors can show up between 9 am and 8 pm everyday.

Onam Celebrations in Full Swing

Onam celebrations are in full swing with people getting out of their homes and into the streets, enjoying the illumination works, several dozens of art performances and enjoying the shopping experiences on offer.

Several dozens of fairs and carnivals add to the festivities. The celebrations are mostly confined to the stretch between Vellayambalam Jn and Palayam. Jawahar Balabhavan, Institute of Engineers' Hall premises, Kanakakkunnu Palace and palace grounds, Nishagandhi festival ground, Suryakanthi festival ground, Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium, etc welcome people to festival fervor.

For this young one, selling a few bubbles to the festival goers is more important than the festival itself.

Clouds gather up in the western sky, even as people enjoy a ride on a giant wheel.