Current update from Tamil Nadu & South India

Despite its ups and downs, the year 2023 has been a year of recovery for all of us. We'll be welcoming another new year in a week. May the coming year bring prosperity, good health, and a successful year of tourism for all of us.

I've also been reading in newspapers about the COVID in Singapore and Malaysia. I've heard of a few COVID cases in Kerala and Karnataka as well. But everything is normal in South India. Schools, colleges, and all government offices are open, and none in South India bother to wear even a mask. I doubt we'll ever hear the term "lockdown" again because no government can afford to declare it in these conditions.

Regardless of a few negatives around us as of now, I am very optimistic, as festival season is filling the air with positive spirit and prosperity. The upcoming years are going to be excellent for the tourism industry. So let us hold onto the positive spirit and welcome 2024 with both hands, wholeheartedly, and with a warm smile.

Opening of Paradise Door festival (Vaikunta Ekadesi): At Trichy Srirangam temple, on 23rd December, Saturday

Tomorrow, the 23rd of December, Saturday, Sri Rangam temple celebrates the Vaikunta Ekadesi festival - opening of the Paradise Door. This is one of the largest functioning Hindu temples in the world. This is one of the most important Ekadasis, which falls on the eleventh day of every lunar fortnight in the traditional Hindu calendar. This festival is celebrated for 20 long days. The first 10 days are celebrated during the day and the next 10 days are celebrated during the nighttime. Clients who stay at Trichy can witness this celebration during the day and night respectively as it will be interesting and exciting for the clients to watch the proceedings. 

Clients can visit and walk through the paradise door if they wish. But they need to wait and go only in the queue which might take 2 hours. Sanctum will be closed tomorrow. Clients can have a great experience witnessing the celebration & the colourful crowd that visits the temple to take part in the festival. We expect a few lakh people to visit Sri Rangam temple on that day to take part in the celebration. Due to the huge crowd, vehicles will be stopped 1 km away from the temple for parking and everyone should walk at least a kilometre to reach the temple.

Tomorrow, the temple will be extremely crowded. Normally it takes 1 or 2 hours to visit the temple but on this festival day, it would take 4 to 5 hours. The Deputed Police force alone will be around 5000 on Ekadesi day. So, one can imagine the crowd that visits Sri Rangam temple to take part in the celebration.  Clients can explore the area near the temple by walking if they wish, as Cars will have to be parked 2 km away from the temple and no Auto rickshaws are allowed to ply. Within a radius of 2 km from the temple area, none of the vehicles are allowed. 

Please keep your team informed about this festival for smooth coordination with your clients.

Right now, floods and rain are more concerning to me than COVID. As you are aware, December has not been kind to Tamil Nadu, with Chennai being hit badly by a cyclone in the first week of the month, followed by disastrous floods last week in the down south. 

Usually rain for Tamil Nadu is from the northeast monsoon that starts from October to December 1st week, but this year we are experiencing different monsoons and the monsoon will be complete only by the end of January 2024. So, there are 3 more cyclones expected to hit Tamil Nadu before January end. So, there will be rain in January as well, which is very unusual. But we can handle the situation as it's not going to affect us much. There is no need to change the client program. We shall keep you posted in this regard.

The best thing about rain is that it turns Tamil Nadu into a lush green paradise like Kerala. This will help farmers plan their crops for the coming year 2024. Going forward, let us remain positive because we have witnessed extreme situations in the last two years and know exactly what to do in such situations.