The Mylapore Festival Kolam Competition, 2014, as sent by Mylapore Times

The annual Sundaram Finance Mylapore Festival’s 2014 edition came to an end, with Sundaram Finance’s ‘Spirit of Mylapore Award’ being presented to tennis legend Ramanathan Krishnan. The award was presented on the fourth evening of the Festival.

Sundaram Finance had in January 2009 instituted its annual award to recognise one longtime resident or institution of Mylapore who/that has contributed significantly to the culture and heritage of Mylapore. Previous recipients have been roadside bookseller R.K. Azhwar, the legendary musician S. Rajam, Dubba Chetty Kadai, Rasi Silks, and Lady Sivaswami Girls School.

A variety of events was enjoyed by at least 25,000 people during the four days of the Festival, which has come to be the city’s one-of-its-kind celebration. Some of the events during the Festival as reported by Mylapore Times were as follows:

• A few days before the fest, the Kapali Temple office organised another event at the Navarathri mandapam where the classical dance events of the Festival were planned. So a makeshift stage was created on the eastern side, next to the Saneeswarar sannidhi. A nice change: the dancers could also look up at the moon-lit skies and lit vimanas. Kuchipudi dancer Madhavapeddi Murthy and his sishyas performed an item on the brass plate adjusting their movements to the space.

• Young nadaswaram artiste Mylai R. Mahendran and his team of artistes began the four-day proceedings on the first day on the main stage in front of the 16-pillar mandapam. The team arrived on time, performed to time and kept a low profile.

• The open space inside Lady Sivaswamy School was a riot of colours on all four days. This was the arts contest space. The judges were chosen from the audience. The children didn’t really care about the toffees that were distributed by the volunteers; each one only wanted a prize!

• Young singers seated on a gallery at the Nageswara Rao Park this year let the music swirl. Some bright voices, some still sleepy. Misty mornings, but the mosquitoes didn’t seem to spare anyone.

• It is a challenge to run a festival of this magnitude in open space. Artistes reaching the venue on time, the props that need to be brought in, all depend on the traffic and the criss-crossing of many in the audience. You need to literally float in the crowd to reach backstage. This was the story of the Krishna image that couldn’t reach the stage for the Thiruvadira Kali dance by artistes from Kerala.

• The band of 55 young artistes in the dance drama Sura Samharam had travelled from Virugambakkam. These sishyas of guru Sheela Unnikrishnan just smiled and went about touching up their make-up, after squeezing into a small house. Partly renovated with glossy tiles, the house of Venkataraman played host to the artistes on all days of the Festival. Seetharam of Kanchi Weavers’ Saree House was another gracious host to performers who needed some privacy.

• The Festival realises that people want to compete in games, irrespective of their age.There was the chess contest at Nageswara Rao Park and Dayakkattam and Pallankuzhi at Lady Sivaswamy School. A surprise fun event was the ‘Karumbu kadi’ contest held at the theradi. The sugarcane stick had to be peeled using hands and teeth! Seven rounds of five participants each took part in the event. And still there were people waiting for their chance.

• The Kolam contest, the Festival’s flagship event, continued to receive huge participation. Foreigners also took part; an Aurovillean won a prize and so did two men. The Fest team was not sure if children of this generation could draw kolam. But two dozen plus children who participated in the kolam contest proved the organisers wrong. The kolam area in front of the eastern gopuram looked beautiful with children in traditional attire drawing kolams.

• Three hosts treated guests to elai sapad. Lakshmi of Devadi Street and Jayashree of Kesava Perumal West Street were not new to the concept; they had hosted elai sapad last year too. For Padma Sankaran, this was a new experience.

• When C.A. Raja’s Pranavam took the stage for the vintage film music concert, the audience sat glued to their seats. Many sang along, some danced and a couple was in  tears and enjoyed the rewind, talking of the days they had seen MGR films for 40 paise!

• The Tank Street was a bazaar zone teeming with shoppers. Pitchu Pillai Street had space for students from the College of Fine Arts, led by Sakthivel, and the Chennai Weekend Artists. The organisers have a dream: to make this an exclusive Art Street.

• Who could think that the mandapam leading to the ther can be a place for performance? When the lights were turned 180 degrees and beamed on the mandapam, the audience too turned their chairs towards it. Young dancer Sumitra Subramaniam danced to music by young singer J.B. Keerthana.

• The exhibition – ‘100 years of Indian Cinema’ – on the first floor of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan could be set up only a little late. The display boards didn’t arrive on time. The team of collegians working on the project conceived by director A.L. Venky was more than happy to later see a steady stream of visitors. But they were disappointed by an unknown fan of MGR who kept taking away the pictures of the legend they had put up!

• The idea of having a small snacks kiosk at the theradi worked well. A team of bubbly young mothers along with their children sold traditional snacks like uppama, kozhakattai and vegetable poli. They made it ‘no onion-no garlic’ on Vaikunta Ekadasi day. Idea worked.

• The food street was packed. Unmanageable on Sunday. From the traditional dosas to Mangalore kadubus, kozhakattais and North Indian snacks on offer, the foodies had their full.

• The venue for the two weekend talks was Lady Sivaswamy School. Pradeep Chakravarthy moved to a classroom when he found the curious Dayakattam players still playing in the hall. The listeners attending his talk on Devadasis took over the chairs, benches and desks! Ram Mohan spoke about his great days in Pelathope in Mylapore.

• Shivananda Hegde and his 15-member Yakshagana troupe gave two back-to-back shows. Photographers shot hundreds of pictures of the artistes doing the make-up and getting into their constumes in the mandapam.

• While Sriram V. strolled down Kutcheri Road taking along two dozen people with him and sharing stories, Ramanujar’s team cycled down the Mylapore area. The Cycling Yogis had ten Americans who were here to attend a yoga camp. And the foodies filled up on Sridhar’s well-planned Food Walk – from Rayar’s Mess to Janal bajji kadai. (Courtesy: Mylapore Times)