Despite the COVID-19 scare, the temples flooded with people, who came with their children in large numbers to initiate them into the world of letters during the Vidyarambham ceremony in Kannur on Friday.
Even though enough care was taken to follow the COVID protocol, it turned out into a difficult task for the temple authorities and police personnel deputed for crowd management.
In Pallikunnu Mookambika temple, the crowd gathered since early morning. The administration allowed no more than 500 people on the occasion, considering the COVID protocols to be followed.
Every year huge number, more than 1500 people arrive at the temple during the ceremony. However, they had to restrict upto 500 two weeks ago, even though the number of requests was huge than before, said administrative officer Mohana Chandran.
The head priest (Melashanthi) Shankara Narayana Prasad and his associate, Unnikrishnan Nambeeshan initiated the children during the Vidyarambham ceremony, which began at 7 a.m. and ended by 1.30 p.m.
For K Ramesh, it was a tough time to console his daughter R Remya, who was impatient, during the ceremony. She was scared and crying seeing people in such large numbers. "Earlier the presence of crowd during the festival excited us, but this time a large number of devotees at the temple was a bit scary," said Mr. Ramesh.
However, there were good arrangements at the temple and people were also conscious and cooperating, which helped to ease the tension here, he added.
It was no different at Muzhukkuni Mrindagasaileswari temple, where people thronged here from various places. More than 700 people booked here for the Vidyarambham ceremony. Volunteers and police were deputed in large numbers to control the crowd. The situation was no different in many other temples where the crowd had gathered during the day.
