St Antony’s fest, venue for annual meet of families

According to V Balakumar, a native of Rameswaram, around 3,250 from various parts of Tamil Nadu reached Katchatheevu in 94 boats at 10 am on Saturday after two-hour trip. Devotees underwent routine frisking by police, ‘Q’ branch, Revenue officials and finally by customs who did not allow a person to carry more than two packets of Chikki (kadalai mittai) to prevent illegal sale in the island. This was because a Rs 40 packet would be sold for Rs 100 in Katchatheevu. In addition to chikki, carrying liquor was also prohibited by the officials. 

A common complaint of pilgrims was that they were not allowed to use restrooms for nearly six hours before boarding the boats at Rameswaram. Each boat was given a number and also a list of the 35 passengers travelling in it. A private jetty and temporary another set up by the Sri Lankan navy helped visitors disembark at Katchatheevu. Each boat driver handed over the passenger list and the identity cards of visitors to Sri Lanka naval officials who then issued tokens for their dinner and breakfast. 

Contrary to the belief that visitors were provided food by Sri Lanka, the truth was that the Indian high commission paid for visitors’ dinner and breakfast. After the Sunday morning mass, announcements regarding the boats and their numbers were made passengers reached their respective boats and returned home. Nearly 3,000 turned up from Sri Lanka, with a large group from Mannar and Jaffna provinces, for the annual fest.