Since our visit to Palakkad during the Covid days, Kalpathy and its Ratholsavam were on our bucket list. We were not expecting to go this year but suddenly everything came in line and we got the opportunity to witness this renowned cultural event of Palakad in November 2024. After booking a hotel around 4 KMs from Kalpathy, we waited for the day to come.
Our plan was to visit the place on the most important day of the Ratholsavam week. We just had the knowledge and information from the videos we have seen till then. We started from home on one Friday morning just around 6 AM and reached Palakad at around 1 PM. We had breakfast just before Kuthiran tunnels. Whenever we travel through Palakad, this place has been our breakfast spot since last year. As it has been almost 6 months since we have gone for a bike trip, it was feeling great in terms of the riding vibes.
Hotwheels Hunt @ Palakkad Lulu Mall
I had news that a Hotwheels fest was going on in Palakkad Lulu Mall. We decided to make a quick visit to the mall to see if there were any rare Hotwheels models available. It was not crowded at all. The parking lot was almost empty. I picked around 20 cars. Not all of them were rare but I picked almost everything that was not in my collection. I spent almost 4000 INR on Hotwheels. I felt sorry later but my Hot Wheels cravings were fixed completely. I bought a few models for Maneesh as well. We then headed towards our stay at the hotel near to Kalpathy.
Lunch from Meenchatty
The hotel was pretty good. Even though it was a bar hotel, the ambience, hospitality, and facilities were decent. We then searched online for any good place to have lunch. We found a restaurant ‘Meenchatty’ to be having good reviews. It was a standard homely meals type restaurant. But they had some serious seafood varieties. We bought a fish fry and fish curry meals. It was a good lunch.
After that, we returned to our hotel. After resting for some time, by around 4 PM, we got ready and went to Kalpathy.
Kalpathy Crowd and Place of Ratholsavam
The place was very crowded we parked our bike almost a kilometre away from the main venue and walked towards the place. Both sides of the street were filled with temporary shops/stalls selling various food items, toys, other stationary and fancy products, and traditional products. Upon reaching the first corner we saw a temple along with 3 chariots ready to launch their journey towards the main point.
The crowd was crazy and it was not very safe for ladies and kids. However, there were a lot of families and ladies present for the event. We stayed away from the crowd most of the time.
The Chariots
The chariots were a treat to see. As there were 3 chariots, all of them were of different sizes. One was very big, the second was a little smaller, and 3rd one was almost like 1/4th version of the main chariot. The main chariot was taller than a giraffe and it was massive. With full of decorations, and painted with colourful wheels and decor at the bottom, it was a treat to watch while it moved.
As expected, it is very difficult for the people to pull these chariots by their own. Hence there was an elephant ready to help the people to pull the chariots around the streets. The elephant was provided with a cusion in its forehead to push the chariot wheels one by one. Around 5-6, large chariots come to a single point from all directions of the old and new Kalpathy villages to one point. By evening plenty of people especially young boys gangs came vibing with the entire scene. More than the locals, it was the outsiders who were present in the location.
The local people were seen taking part of the event with their belief and devotion, whereas a large part of the crowd was looking at these events as a carnival of chariots. Even though we were not part of their religion, we felt proud and respect for the people there to conduct this kind of event with their full love and efforts put for their idol. Till around 8 PM we spent time in those streets, shopping, looking at the shops and also the chariots at night.
End of Day 1
We went back to our hotel and went to Chemmeenz for dinner. We are familiar to this restaurant from the covid days travel to this place. HOwever, the restaurant as well as their food was not up to the mark this time. After having dinner, we went back to the hotel and slept soon. Our dream of witnessing this larger than life real world event was made true today. The kids sitting inside the chariot looking at the sunset, devotees pulling the chariot, the crowd, temple grandeur, and the streets will remain in our memories forever.
Day 2
We woke up early this day as we wanted to explore some food and wanted to see the chariots we saw last day upclose without crowd. We decided to visit Kalpathy old and new streets early morning. Our plan was to have breakfast from ‘Tastes of Kalpathy’, a popular restaurant run inside an agraharam in Kalpathy. Run by the people here from Tamil family, the food was so authentic and tasty. It’s a simple restaurant we usually see in villages, but their hospitality and the original taste of the food made us feel so filled at heart.
I remember a man asking the main lady there, are you not tired due to the extensive chariot procession’s yesterday? And the lady replied “We won’t show that outside, even if we are exhausted because it is our child”. From that conversation I learned that the chariot procession is actually a ritual held for showing their love and affection to the little lord Krishna.
After having some quick chats with the people there, we headed towards the temples.
The chariots
We wanted to see the chariots and the streets without the rush we experienced last night. The chariots were parked near to the temples at both ends of the streets. Still there were some small processions happening in small chariots with brahmin priests and others following a gold colored rolling vehicle.
I had my HW Bumblebee in my pocket. I want to take its photos by placing it in the chariots massive wheels. We also took photos of the place and ourselves with the chariots and left the place after some time.
Back to Hotel
It was almost time for us to checkout our room and head back to Kochi. We packed our bags and left the hotel and decided to have lunch at NMR Biriyani.
Rain and NMR Chicken Biriyani
It was about to rain as we reached NMR. There was rush but we managed to get seat without much waiting. The biriyani was exceptional and we enjoyed the lunch thoroughly. We waited some time for the rain to stop. The rainy atmosphere was very special. A rain during a trip is always unique.
After rain we started our ride towards Kochi. It became very hot soon as the rainy condition soon changes once we left Palakkad town. We reached Kochi by around evening 8 PM. We had dinner from Slice of Spice restaurant in Highcourt Jn, Ernakulam.
It was a good trip and we checked one more entry in our bucket list – The Kalpathy Ratholsavam!
