Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 1 (IANS) Women looked elegant in traditional white and gold saris as they made their way to offices and colleges in Kerala and many men too reported to work in the white 'mundu' and shirt Monday as the state turned 54.

White and gold sure seemed to be the colours of the day at the Technopark campus here too.

"I almost forgot that today was Kerala Day but my friend called and reminded me so I quickly changed into a Kerala sari. It is realy nice to see a good number of women in saris," said a young woman IT engineer at the Technopark.

Kerala came into being on Nov 1, 1956, on linguistic basis, bringing together places where Malayalam formed the principal language.

The state was formed incorporating Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin (excluding four southern taluks that were merged with Tamil Nadu), and the taluk of Kasargod, South Kanara.

Kerala created history after a new legislative assembly was created following the first elections held in 1957.

For the first time in world history, a Communist government was lected to power and E.M.S. Namboodiripad was sworn in as chief minister April 5, 1957.

Incidentally, nearly 21,000 candidates, including over 11,000 women, who won the local bodies polls, will be sworn-in to their offices Monday.

With this, Kerala becomes the first state in the country where 50 percent of the local bodies in the state would be headed by women.