Cochin Carnival celebrations begin on Sunday

Kochi: The 42nd Cochin Carnival celebrations will kick off at 8.30am on Sunday with a tribute to those who sacrificed their lives at the war memorial in the courtyard of St Francis Church.On Dec 21 the carnival flag-raising ceremony will take place at Vasco da Gama Square at 9.30am. K J Maxi, MLA, will inaugurate the hoisting ceremony, and flags will be raised by 90 organizations on specially prepared flagpoles. In the following days various cultural and sports events will be held across Fort Kochi. These include DJ performances, mega shows, motorbike races, vintage scooter rallies, archery, shooting, a carnival marathon, a Konkani language festival, mehndi kayak, wrestling, musical nights, fishing and boat-rowing competitions. Events are organized at Fort Kochi Beach, Parade Ground, Pallath Raman Ground, Amaravathi Mazhavil Park, Chullikkal Queens Park, Mundamveli Corporation Ground, Vasco da Gama Square, Nehru Park, Tip Top Aziz ground and Saudi School ground. From Dec 28 to 31 music bands, DJs, Arun Gopan's open mic band and a mega music show will perform. On Dec 31, cultural programmes will begin at 8pm to welcome the New Year. At midnight the burning of Pappanji and fireworks will mark the celebrations. On Jan 1 at 3.30pm, a carnival rally will start from Fort Kochi Beach, as announced by carnival committee members K J Sohan, M Soman Menon, Shiny Mathew, P J Josy, A H Hidayath and Abhilash Thoppil at a news conference on Thursday.During the ceremony at the war memorial on Sunday, mayor M Anilkumar, Fort Kochi sub-collector Grandhe Sai Krishna, INS Dronacharya commanding officer Commodore Manav Sehgal representing Navy, Soman for carnival committee, K K Sivan for ex-servicemen association and A P Ravindran for Madras Regiment will lay wreaths. Family members of the fallen will also participate. After military honours, a church choir will sing a peace message, followed by a solidarity pledge led by veterans.