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The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 22,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 8 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

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Today while searching for a book, I got the hard disk from my cupboard. As my friend bought a new one, i got permission to do some experiments on the hard disk. The greatest challenge was opening the hard disk without breaking the casing.Googled for service manual and ended up in some websites selling HDD. So i decided to do trial and error method.

Removed the only screw that was on the front side of the Hard Disk and used the flat screw driver to pull the cover. I was able to open to the case, but ended up breaking the two plastic locks on the sides. After doing detailed check, the case was designed in slide to close method. Remove the screw first and then push the upper case in the direction marked.  Please refer the image below for details on opening the case(click on the image to see the enlarged version)

I ve been saying about pooram and my non malayali readers or non Palakkadan readers will be wondering what pooram is. Pooram is a regional festival of Kerala. Pooram is mainly celebrated in the northern part of Kerala, mainly at the district of Thrissur and Palakkad. And Thrissur Pooram is the most famous pooram. Different pooram has different custom of Celebration Chinakkathoor Pooram is celebrated in Ottapalam or Valluvanad which is a sub distrcit of Palakkad. Chinakkathoor Kaavu(the temple) is located at Palappuram which is 5 kms away from Ottapalam and 29 Kms away fromPalakkad Town by road.

Pooram commences with Koothu and Pooram molayidal function happens ten days prior to the actual pooram. From the time Pooram molayidal happens, People start yelling for help (ayyayyo ayyayyo അയ്യയ്യോ അയ്യയ്യോ) which is there in the myths of Chinakkathoor Pooram. Though I asked my mom what this myth is all about, she also dont know the real story leading to this ayyayyo ayyayyo അയ്യയ്യോ അയ്യയ്യോ. I will do a separate post about this later once i get the clear picture from someone who knows about it.

Chinakkathoor Pooram is a very colorful festival.After the Pooram molayidal Poothan and Thira will visit each and every hindu houses of Valluvanad. I ve heard that Poothan Thira has also got som’e myth behind them. I did a googling for that got a wikipedia post. This is what it says “A typical Poothan Thira performance comprising mostly shouts and wild gestures. The duo is immensely popular amongst the natives and an essential part of the village festivals of the region. Poothan player usually wear in bright (usually red), tightly woven costumes embellished with gold-coloured trinkets. Their larger than life headdresses with peacock features and imposing masks with stick out tongues and eyes are sure to leave an unbelievable imagination to the viewer. Thira player wears semicircular black crown mounted on his head with symbols of the goddess embossed on the same. We can see may Thira players with extra ordinary acrobatic skills who make the performance a real treat to watch.” Nayadis a particular tribe of people also visit the homes singing their tribal songs. But I have heard them singing only one song and the lyrics goes like this “Naayaadi Naayaadi Chankara Naayaadi” accompanied by the special effects created by hitting two bamboo sticks.

The next custom is Parayeduppu. Velichapaadu who is believed to be the revealer of light, is a mediator between the deity and the devotees. ‘Velichappadu’ literally means ‘the one who throws light on any problems.’ Possessed by the deity, Velichappadu (oracle) dances in frenzy at the festivals in Bhagavati temples. Velichappadu visits each and every house to accept para( which is a vessel used to measure cereals) filled with paddy, Neyyappam, Plantain etc.

The next ceremony that comes next is Kuthirakku Thalavekkal. Many huge stuffed horse models are built using bamboo sticks(framework), Plantain leaves(stuffing). Each horse depicts a soldier of army. Once they are done with the body building fixing the head of Kuthirakku Thala Vekkal happens. Valluvanad is divided in to different Desams or villages and all of them have their own troups of this horse armies. On the pooram day people carry this horses to Chinakkathoor Temple and performs the Kuthirakali. This horses compete with each other the pooram ground. The one who throws or lifts the horse the highest is believed to be the best player. Pooram starts with the horse rally which always starts in between 1 PM and 2PM. The Horse rally or Kuthira pooram is followed by the Aanapooram or Tusker Rally. After the kuthirapooram and Aana pooram fireworks happens at the temple ground. Though majority of people leave after the fire works all of them come back to the ground by early morning for the pakalpooram.

I know i havent given the right justice to this post. Though I want to write more about this, I am really exhausted today. By the time i sleep you can go through the snaps of previous pooram on the link below

Check out more photos at :

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/rijesh.ramdas/ChinakkathoorPooram2007?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/rijesh.ramdas/Pooram2008?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/rijesh.ramdas/Pooram2009?feat=directlink

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trcnair/

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