CHENNAI: Kaanum Pongal, the third day of the Pongal festival, was celebrated with much gaiety in the city on Tuesday with people thronging public spaces for sight seeing. But unlike previous years, the crowds in the various beaches, especially the Marina, was much thinner.Considered the day of get-togethers, Kaanum Pongal is usually celebrated with family gatherings and outings after special prayers in the morning seeking the blessing of elders.On Tuesday morning, the crowd started trickling in at public spaces such as malls and theatres. Elaborate arrangements, including fencing on the shore near the Gandhi statue to stop revelers from entering the sea, were made by the police and fire and rescue services personnel at the Marina, a hotspot for the fest in the city. Officials said close to 2,000 policemen were posted at the Marina.The scene was similar at the beaches in Besant Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur and Kottivakkam. However, police personnel at the beaches noted that the crowd had thinned this year. “We have seen much bigger crowds. This is even less crowded than last year, which in itself was less crowded than the year before that. Maybe people now prefer going to malls and movie halls rather than come to the beach. Either way, our workload is lighter and the possibility of untoward incidents is lower,” said a police officer, who did not want to be named.A number of cases where drunkards caused nuisance to the family crowd was brought to the notice of the police who had erected temporary monitoring sheds near the beaches. A number of missing children cases were also reported, though police said that the kids were restored with their parents immediately by making announcements through the loudspeakers.Hawkers on the beaches did brisk business. Some had even left their usual beats to come peddle their wares along the beach. “I usually set up shop near CMBT. But every year I come to the beach on Kaanum Pongal, because this is where the crowds come,” said Chander Kumar, a pani puri seller from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.The trend, though, was different at the Aringar Anna Zoological Park in Vandaloor where officials said there was a marked increase in the number of visitors registered. As per information given at 3.30 pm, about 59,231 persons had visited the zoo compared to 57,217 last year. Police officials said that the decrease in the crowd in the beaches could be attributed to increase in alternative venues of recreation that have come up across the city.
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