Over four evenings, five inner streets of Mylapore, all located around Sri Kapali Temple, turned into a festival zone. From January 8 to 11, on the eve of the Pongal festival.
On those four days, the annual Sundaram Finance MYLAPORE FESTIVAL unfolded, like it always does, as a street cultural festival.
Even as dusk fell, two streets came alive – Sundareswarar Street where a section of it had stalls that offered snacks – this year, some eight groups set up shop to offer simple snacks, nothing exotic, to allow visitors to enjoy life on the streets.
Elsewhere, on Kumaragurunathan Street, alongside the south end of the temple and on East Tank Street, 25 teams of women, all belonging to self–help groups, spread the goods they deal with, to start sales – paintings and home decor, craftwork and dry foodstuff, fashion accessories and home needs . . . for four evenings, this was a buzzing bazaar that got crowded after dusk.
In the Sannithi Street quadrangle, where the main and secondary stages are set up for live shows on all four evenings, with the mantapam and gopuram of the temple as. a natural backdrop, a few hundred people sat down to watch what was on offer, 6 p.m. onwards – from Bharatanatyam dance-dramas and folk arts and traditional sport, from instrumental and vintage film music concerts to nagaswaram and Indian choral music. 14 shows were staged in the evenings.
On the weekend of Jan.10 and 11, the east side of North Mada Street turned into a carpet of kolams and rangolis as over 160 people, each evening – men, women and teens – took part in the contests which are the flagship events of the festival. The grey skies, the prediction of heavy rain and the light drizzle did not dampen the enthusiasm of the participants.
Elsewhere, chess contests and craft workshops were held for children.
On Sunday, there were six Walks / Tours. Themes covered on various Walks were – Muslim heritage in Mylapore zone, traditional architecture, histories of Mandavelipakkam, on three key Mylapore temples, a cycle tour for children and stories for children on Sri Kapali Temple.
The exhibition of photos shot in the Mylapore zone in the 1960s and 1970s, displayed off the theradi, drew lots of people. They got to see a Mylapore they could not have imagined.
Themed T-shirts sold out at the Souvenirs counter, as did simple key chains and fridge magnets, all Mylapore themed. Also on sale were framed Mylapore illustrations.
This year, some Festival events were held the previous week – contests in dayakattam and in pallankuzhi, two Walks and a Mylapore Quiz.
The rain threatened to fall as the festival entered the final phase on Sunday evening, with the orchestra playing vintage Tamil film songs on the main stage. It became chill as it had been the recent days and yet, when the last song was sung close to 10 p.m. that Sunday, the festival slipped into a fine final act. The Rain Gods had been nice to this festival.
