KOCHI: With the Christmas season round the corner, Fort Kochi is readying to welcome the grand old Cochin Carnival. But this time around, the festivity might just be beyond the expectations of the Queen of Arabian sea. The Kochi Corporation is tying up with the Grand Kerala Shopping Festival and the DTPC to make this year’s Carnival on a scale big enough to tag Fort Kochi as a ‘Carnival City.’“The carnival will see thousands of visitors. It is the largest gathering of foreigners for any event in the state any time. We hope to make use of the opportunity to raise the visibility of Fort Kochi and get it tagged as a ‘Carnival City’ like Goa,” Fort Kochi RDO S Shahnawaz said. One of the major highlights of the carnival this year is the illumination of all Chinese nets in Fort Kochi. There are also proposals to illuminate Goshree bridges and the key cranes at Vallarpadom terminal. The organisers are also looking at tie-ups with tour operators to enable houseboats from Alapuzha and Vallarpadom to visit Fort Kochi and see the illuminations.The DTPC’s Vasantholsavam and the Grand Kerala Shopping Festival will conduct events, including magic shows, riddle games, adventure sports, entertainment nights and so on at street corners. “We will also have sports training programmes wherein the visitors will be trained to participate in adventure items like choir climbing, broken glass walking and so on,” DTPC secretary T N Jayashankar said. “We have asked for three mega shows for Fort Kochi as part of the Grand Kerala Shopping Festival. These can be star nights, mega entertainment programmes, each lasting for one week,” Shahnawaz said.The programmes will begin with a 12-km long cross- country race from Kannammaly to Fort Kochi’s Vasco Da Gama Square. Around 100 persons will participate in it. “The event is being held after a period of 15 years. The winner will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 10,000, along with the trophy,” said Hashim Khan, the secretary of the Sea Divers Club which is organising the event. One of the highlights of adventure sports is balloon walking in which people will be taken on the waters of Fort Kochi inside an oxygen-filled mega balloon. The event is the first-of-its-kind in South India. Apart from this, there will be circus, an adventure-cum-ethnic food court from Madhya Pradesh and ghazal nights. This is in addition to the 50 events held annually as part of the carnival every year. About 50 clubs will be roped in to perform various events. The corporation has also agreed to allot late night buses from Fort Kochi on the New Year day.
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