Kollam (Kerala), Mar 26 : In a bizarre festival in Kerala, men take the guise of women and carry lamps to offer prayers at temple.

Popularly known as ''Kottankulangara Chamayavillanku'', the festival is held at the Kottankulangara temple in Chavara, near Kerala''s Kollam district. The men pay their obeisance to the Goddess Bhagavathy, the deity of the temple.

The 19-day long festival occurs during March - April each year.

Thiruvananthapuram, March 20 : In keeping with the rich traditions of the Indian Army, the 54 Infantry Division is undertaking a unique expedition called the "Bison Blue Waters Expedition" from Indian mainland to the Lakshadweep Islands.

General Officer Commanding Bison Division, Major General Rajesh Singh will flag the expedition off on March 22 at Agatti in Lakshadweep.

Thiruvanthapuram, Mar. 20 : Former UN Under Secretary General Shashi Tharoor and Congress party candidate from Thiruvanthapuram in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election has said that his priority will be the development of his constituency.

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 13 : The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Friday announced that it was splitting from the Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPM) in Kerala.

The decision was taken by the CPI, after talks over who would contest the Ponnani seat failed. The party will now contest all 20 constituencies in the state during the general elections.

A CPI statement stated that the onus of the split in the state lies completely with the CPM.

Meanwhile, the CPM has called for an emergency meeting in New Delhi to discuss the situation.

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 12 : The Communist Party of India (CPI) and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) have rejected the Communist Party of India (Marxist) demand for the Ponnani and Kozhikode seats in Orissa.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) liaison committee meeting here today failed to make any headway in the seat sharing talks.

While the CPI has expressed its interest to contest from Ponnani seat, the CPI-M wants to field a common Independent candidate to win Muslim votes in the India Union Muslim League (IUML) stronghold.

Guruvayur (Kerala), Mar 9 : Thousands of people thronged Kerala''s Guruvayur Temple to watch the annual jumbo race.

Some 34 elephants lined up for the event from which ten were selected for the race which heralds the beginning of a ten-day festival in the temple dedicated to Lord Krishna.

The race began from a revered banyan tree and culminated with a 33-year-old tusker named Gopi Kannan, named after the temple deity winning the race.

Gopi Kannan raced past four other tuskers to enter the temple premises and went straight in to the sanctum sanctorum.