"Celebrating Oneness" With Music And Dance At The Beach

"Music, theatre and the arts are meant to be bridges to connect across cultures, civilisations and other artificial boundaries that divide people. But, often they fall prey to the same divisions created by man. As arts get more and more esoteric -- with artists and the audience seeking comfort in homogeneity of class, caste, race or creed -- even it begins losing its ability to communicate and build bridges across the vast and wondrous diversity of people and places. The art and the artists stop growing."

Says noted Carnatic vocalist T. M. Krishna in a note on the thought behind putting together the Urur Olcott Kuppam Margazhi Vizha, a unique festival of dance and music by the beach that took place on January 15 and 16 in a fishing village in Chennai. By taking classical music and dance out of the closed environs of elite auditoriums and bringing it right in the middle of a fishing village, he and his team have taken the first step towards "celebrating oneness" as the tag line in the banner says.

The idea sounds so attractive and inviting that we decide to go. As we turn in a narrow lane just off the road parallel to the happening Elliot's Beach, it feels as if we are transported to a different world. Local women selling flowers guide us to the "kutcheri" that their village is hosting. I am told some social organisations have pitched in to do the cleaning up and to raise funds privately for this fest. What used be a dumping yard for old cars has been transformed into a lovely performance space, with the Bay of Bengal providing a beautiful backdrop.  A Matador and a Qualis have been left behind while the rest of the area has been cleared of all the old cars. Spray-painted and decorated with strings of light bulbs, these vehicles add an authentic local touch to the venue. Later, many kids get onto the top of the Matador to enjoy a better view of the performances. A couple of walls in the area have been painted in festival-related graffiti. The kuppam (fishing village) is now ready for the festival.

People come full of curiosity and anticipation for this novel event, many preferring to sit down in the sand while several take chairs thoughtfully provided by the organizers. The programme is compered confidently by two girls from the kuppam. Local youth perform an energetic paraiaattam with drums, and a group of girls engages the audience with their wit and charm in villupaattu (musical story-telling performed using bow as the primary musical instrument). It is a pity that I cannot enjoy the story-telling because of my inadequacy in Tamil, but judging from the reaction of others, they are having a great time.

The first classical offering of the day is an instrumental ensemble featuring  young and talented musicians on flute, violin, chitra vina, kanjira, mrudangam and morsing, followed by a Bharatanatyam recital by Anita Guha's troupe. The second day opens with the customary paraiaattam and villupaattu. Later, popular playback singer and Carnatic vocalist P. Unnikrishnan takes the stage and regales the audience with well-known compositions amid requests for film songs from the kuppam kids. He obliges in the end crooning a few lines from the super-hit ennavale adi ennavale. The festival draws to an end with "Krishnan Tudhu" by Kattaikuttu Sangam.

All through the festival, the energy and enthusiasm of not only the performers but also that of the organizers and volunteers is overwhelming and infectious. The kuppam residents have been co-operative and supportive of the event. What has this whole exercise achieved? Well, it is too early to say. Certainly a new initiative has been taken. Congratulations to T. M. Krishna for conceptualising this fest and actually making it happen. One of the "Aha" moments for me is when he decides to introduce all the musical instruments in the ensemble to the local kids, pointing at each instrument and saying its name loudly. Getting the kuppam girls to compere the proceedings is a great way to include them too. Most of the villagers have not had any exposure to any classical music, musicians or instruments before this. This effort has brought them slightly closer to all those. Hope more such efforts will follow. T. M. Krishna sums it up nicely when he says, "Let them listen to it all, and even if one of them likes it and wants to learn, my purpose is served."

Here are some more images from the festival that will help to get a feel of the wonderful ambiance.

Navaratri In Mylapore: Maamis, Manjal And More!

I was in Mylapore yesterday. The neighbourhood is synonymous with tradition in Chennai. The area surrounding the ancient Kapaleeshwarar Temple is the hub of activity during the ongoing festival season. One can get a flavour of culture and tradition here amidst colours, crowd, chaos and a cacophony of street sounds.

Yesterday was the first day of Navaratri, a festival lasting nine nights and nine days culminating on Dusshera, the tenth day. These nine days are especially marked for worshipping Shakti, the divine in the female form. In Tamil Nadu and some other parts of South India, families put up a display of dolls in their homes to celebrate this festival. These dolls are arranged on odd-numbered tiers, like three, five, seven or nine. Called Golu or Kolu, these decorations are the centre of attraction in any household. Friends, family and neighbours visit to admire them. They are treated with food and small gifts.

I walked in the market for some time and was overwhelmed by the number and variety of dolls and other pooja items on sale. The street was lined with makeshift stalls selling figurines in bright colours. Packets containing chunks of dried turmeric, accompanied with the cries of manjal, manjal were selling like hot cakes. I guess it is one of the important ingredients of the festivities. Maamis--as elderly ladies are addressed in this part of the country--were busy taking their pick from the huge stock available. I took many pictures and I will let some of them do the talking here.

See how stylishly she stands with one foot forward like models do at a pageant.

Krishna stands out amongst a multitude of other deities.

The stalls are so tightly packed that it is impossible to take a picture of just one figurine. This makes for some interesting visuals. See how Shiva is peeping from behind Krishna's shoulder!

Even Gods face the space crunch in this time and age. Here, Shiva-Parvati and Ganesha are balanced on top of another Ganesha and Saibaba!

Divine Grace!

Couldn't resist taking a picture of this fragrant basket!

Reclining Ganesha!

Poised to take on the demons.

Another form of Shakti.

These miniature figures are interesting, often depicting rural life in village scenes.

Some ritual or celebration. Perhaps for an expectant mother.

Another village scene.

These fruits look quite real! Not sure what they are made of. The sellers were claiming they are not breakable.

Lord Venkateswara in all his glory.

Lord Vishnu stretched on his Ananta Shesha...right by a Honda Activa!

Beautifully decked up! Aren't their features well-defined and sharp? They look lovely indeed!

Ma Saraswati with her Veena!

Some exquisite garlands. Isn't it amazing how tightly the flowers are packed in them?

And now, a couple of parting shots with more flowers. Fascinating!

 

Vanakkam To Chennai

It's been eight months since we moved base from Bangalore to Chennai. Think Chennai and what comes to mind is heat, humidity, tradition, orthodoxy, culture et cetera. I am still new here and do not know this city well enough to judge it but while first impressions do confirm all the characteristics I just mentioned, one can see a newer, more open, more tolerant face of the metropolis trying to appear from behind its old,rigid countenance. Of course, Chennai has a long way to go before it can be truly called a cosmopolitan city, but maybe the winds of change have started blowing, albeit gently.

It is still not easy to get what you want to say across to a Tamilian who doesn't know any English. But it's not as if you are starved of hearing any language other than Tamil. Go to a public place and you are likely to overhear some delightful Bangla here or chaste Hindi there. So, Chennai is opening its doors to people from other states and letting them be their own selves too.

Take our neighbourhood. At least a couple of houses have boards outside them that announce Hindi tuitions on offer, a Bikaneri Bhojanalaya has just opened that is attracting big crowds comprising of locals as well, cars sporting registration plates from different states are parked outside buildings all over the area and packets of fresh (not frozen) chapatis are always available at the nearby grocery store.

These little things are surely a big help. They are useful to an outsider like me who is trying to find ways to make this unfamiliar city a bit more likable. But one thing is for sure...you can never integrate with the locals unless and until you speak their language. I feel like an illiterate when boards written in Tamil stare at me from everywhere. And I feel helpless when I have to play dumb charades everyday with the domestic help, the watchman and the driver. Then why don't I learn Tamil? Well, it's still early days in Chennai. Maybe it'll happen. They say you need to be in the right place at the right time. I need to wait only for the right time. Right place? I'm already in it!