Students of KHM Higher Secondary School at Valakkulam, near Kottakkal, celebrated Njattuvela on Wednesday with a day-long fair.
Various organic produce and traditional farm implements were on display at the fair.
The Karkidaka Kanji (special rice gruel) prepared by the students was in great demand. The students said that they organised the Njattuvela fete with the objective of recapturing the lost legacy of agriculture. “Today’s children are alien to our traditional agriculture. We are introducing them to that culture where they maintain an emotional contact with the soil,” said Muhammed Bashir P.K., school headmaster.
The Njattuvela fair, titled Recapturing Yesterdays, held under the banner of the school’s Haritha Sena attracted huge crowds. The students explained that Njattuvela was nothing but the preparedness for agriculture by keenly observing climatic changes.
Water pulley
The students introduced a century-old etham or water pulley used by the traditional farmers of the area for irrigation purposes. Apart from the school’s children, most visitors stood agape as the Haritha Sena volunteers demonstrated the method of irrigation by using the etham.
The students even used a laterite monolith discarded by an old-time farmer Manjilas Entheenkutty for their wooden pulley.
