Around 4 p.m. on Saturday, the police pavilion at Asramam Maidan, the main venue of the State School Art Festival, is abuzz with activity. Going beyond the call of duty, the personnel are seen dishing out free tea and snacks to a sizeable crowd thronging the area.
A joint initiative of the Kerala Police Association, Kerala Police Officers Association, and the District Police Society, the pavilion has been providing free refreshments to thousands of visitors since Thursday.
From 10 a.m. onwards, hot tea will be available with steamed banana pieces and a snack packet. While the items in the packet may vary every day, the ‘police chaya’ has become a favourite of many visitors. “It’s tastier than all tea stalls and restaurants nearby,” vouches Rehmat, a parent from Malappuram.
Police officers say around 5,000 snack packets are being distributed a day while 1,500 glasses of passion fruit sarbath and 500 kg of watermelon were handed out on Saturday. “We had done it during the Kollam revenue district arts festival. Though we started off in a modest manner, we had to scale up due to the huge demand. We were particular about the quality of the food and whatever is in the pavilion comes straight from the police canteen,” says Jiju C. Nair, district secretary, KPOA.
While Kollam’s famous ezhuthani cake was given on Friday, they had to spilt each piece into two due to the demand. On Saturday, they arranged around 2,500 cakes to be distributed with the evening tea. From 7 p.m., it’s ‘chukku kappi’ time and steaming hot cups of herbal coffee will be offered to more than 3,000 people.
“We hardly get any chance to celebrate festivals as most of us will be on duty irrespective of Onam or Christmas. We have turned this occasion, this festival, into a celebration for us and the public,” say the law enforcers at the pavilion.
