Ode To Abu

Saturday 11 January 2014

Mylapore Festival Day 2

Day 2 for me was short and sweet. Attended a Muslim wedding and reception and reached the venue right in time for the late show - another wedding. Lord Shiva-Goddess Parvati's 'kalyanam'. Boy, was it grand!

Around 40 dancers from guru Sheela Unnikrishnan's troupe left the audience in awe of their talent. The packed crowd was spellbound and applauded many times through the show, which was edited from its original lengthier duration of over an hour. Special applause was reserved for the dance between Parvathi and her son Arumugan (lord of six faces), and of Her bestowing upon him His 'vel'. It was a truly touching piece between mother and child. The young student who depicted Parvathi was extremely graceful. And the six li'l Murugas were adorable!

The 'kalyanam' and 'nritya' of Shiva and Parvathi was noteworthy and so too the combo of Shiva and his son Muruga. 

However, the show stopper would have to be the dance by the Asuras. They did an absolutely fabulous job with the perfect expressions, costumes and make up, and the background sound effects matched the mood and the lyrics perfectly. In this day and age when the 'Joker' is cool while being evil, these dancers truly made the Asuras look pretty awesome! :-D They rocked! Bad is good! :-D






 All these fabulous photos are courtesy the Mylapore Festival and Chennai Weekend Artists. There are so many bloggers and photographers thronging the venues, and most of them post their work on FB and Flicker. Some of the images are really stunning. 

The dance drama production was rivetting to say the least and I am thankful to R. Saravanan, photographer at Mylapore Times (and the man behind the lens for photos on the Festival's website, blogs and FB pages), for prompting me to attend this show. Might have given it a miss since it was a long day with other events thrown in. This production got me all alert and the tiredness flew away with the cool evening breeze. 

Most kids are in ear muffs to brave the waning nip in the Chennai air. Surprised to see the mothers of the kids in thick sweaters though! 

The food stalls by the ladies near the 'ther' or temple chariot was busier than ever and selling out fast. They seem to have it in them to take up professional catering services with their efficient service and tasty snacks. 

Managed to book my spot for the 'Elai Sapad' or traditional lunch at a typical Mylaporean home. Also picked up the brass davara set :o)

More pics here.


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