Priya's Visuals

Walking through my memory there are many streets I saw , but the most colorful and vibrant street I can recollect is the Mullackal Temple Street in Alleppey during the time of the Temple festival that happens annually in December
Amid the low height buildings of the street stood the majestic temple with the traditional music coming from large speakers continuously, the smell of fresh flowers in the air , the sight of multi-colored glittery papers dangling from threads tied across poles erected on the sides of the street and temporary shops lined up on both sides selling pink colored cotton candies, yellow colored Kerala Banana chips , cartoon shaped balloons that fly up into the sky if you don’t hold tight to its thread , toys, bangles , flowers. Hot pop corns would be getting freshly popped in the machines and sugarcane juice squeezed out fresh on demand.
By evening, the street will be beautifully lit with decorative bulbs of different colors , getting On and Off rhythmically to illuminate various patterns . All the sounds there merge into a large buzz, but if you concentrate , you can hear , the flower vendors shouting names of fresh flowers, the glass bangles in the shops which women crowd to buy ,people talking as they walk past . Like a flowing river, hundreds of people walk in a single direction on either side of the road. If you carefully watch the crowd you can see children with their ever fascinated eyes looking at all the glitters and lights sitting on their parent’s shoulder, Saree clad ladies with jasmine flowers in their hair- on their way to the temple to offer prayers , friend-groups chit chatting and laughing  and uniform clad police officials on guard. The positive energy in the air with all these visuals, smells and sounds is infectious. I walked in this street – spellbound.