Rolling for 2010

The break from the Fest was welcome.

And we are back!

A few preparatory steps will be taken for Mylapore Festival 2010 now - to make good use of the summer hols.

Two projects will roll.

One - to produce five-minute docu-films on anything Mylaporean. Anybody who has a digicam and a group of creative people can sign up. (Leave your names, contacts at mylaporefestival@yahoo.com. We plan to have a simple workshop and move on from there.

The best films will be screened at MF 2010.

Two - to produce a stage show with children using professional actors. Story that will be based on Indian tales. Senior school students can sign up. Workshop in summer.

Ideas for Fest 2010

This is where you come in . . .

Tell us what you would like us to feature for the Fest in 2010.

It will help us shape our plans which have begun to roll.

Here is what is on on board.

1. To create a performance space at another venue, not far from the 16 pillar mantap and host shows in the open air there.  Visitors said that they would like to have alternate events.

Having events indoors is not the best if we have space options.

2. To create Sound and Light Show No.2.  The focus will be on Mylapore but it could be thematic. What theme would you like us to handle? It should be engaging, have to be told thro' narration, sound effects, lights and small acts and be about 40.30 minutes! Tell us. . .

3. To produce 2 shows with children. One will be led by a therukoothu artiste, another by a theatre artiste. Both have expressed interest. What kind of themes would you like children to present? The productions will star a few seasoned artistes and the children will rock the rest!

But those who are selected with need to work hard on 4 weekends in August. Look out for audition dates! We may have 10/12 children in classes 6 to 9.

4. To produce a cinema based stage show. Film clips, narration, talk. What is your fav theme? N. S. Krishnan? Early films of K. Balachander? The song and dance era? Tell us now.

5. To produce a docu on Mylapore. Not a linear docu but with a perspective. What do you think it should highlight? The temples and religious traditions? The evolution of a seaside fishing village into a heritage zone? 

Ideas wanted, and welcome. Tell us if there is a person / family / institution that is celebrating a landmark and how we at the Fest can focus on that.

By the way, one event which has received much and positive feedback is the 'Discover Mylapore' one. Look out for the 2010 edition - it will rock you all. It will be tough, engaging, crazy and fun. Thanks Karnik and co. who walked most of the way and gave us some insight from this experience. . 

P. S. : A visitor asked - why don't we use the tank space?

Check out this blog now and then. It doesn't look like it will be frozen today and come alive only in January 2010.

Thank you, Sorry and Good-bye

Time spins you.

It is two days since the curtains came down on the Fest and there is still so much work left to do to wind up.

This the time to say Thank You to everybody who made the Fest what it was. To 'Sundaram Finance' led by T T Srinivasaraghavan, an active partner, to all the artistes who performed at the Fest, to the backstage teams who set the stage for the shows/events, to the state agencies that helped us stage the Fest, to the volunteers and to our small team. 

Special thanks to my colleague Revathi R. who joined us many years ago and has made a huge contribution to the Fest these past years.

It is also time to say 'Sorry' to those who strongly felt that some things had to be done but weren't, to those who experienced our slips and to those who felt they deserved better.

We say good-bye now.

And set the ball rolling for 2010.

 

Thank you, volunteers!

Sundaram Finance Mylapore Festival has the tradition of having volunteers at different venues of the festival who happily come forward to manage the events. Many are young, a few in their middle ages, some studying, some working, some home makers . . .
It is the community spirit that brings all these people together.
It is time to say thanks to all of them!

Krishna, Ramesh, Suresh, Varsha, Anusha and Sindhiya was the team at the Nageswara Rao park who managed 200 kids (and their parents!) during the art contests, workshops and evening shows.

The dances inside the temple, including the one on Pradosham day which had to be started as late as 8 pm and went on till 9 pm were taken care by Vasini and Malathy.

The Tamil literary events at the Hotel Karpagam Hall, a little away from the main show area was under the charge of Srividhya and Karpaga Lakshmi. The team that joined the Pallankuzhi contests there on the weekends had Ganesh, Shyam, Devi and Kalavathy.

Keeping an eye on the happenings at the Arts Street where the students of a few women's colleges displayed their art materials was Balaji.

The food court was managed by a larger group headed by Srinivasan. Vijayakumar, Navaneetha krishnan, Chidambaram, Ramachandran, Jayachandran, Thiruvengadam, Rajeswari, Vijetha, Mythili, Gayathri, Giridharan, Gopi, Ramya, Bhargavi, Sridevi and Varsha. A few of them volunteered only during the weekend though.

At the festival office, seniors Jayaraman and Prabhakaran interacted with the visitors along with Ragini. Venkatesh updated the events and contest results and was giving away the information on the LCD screen on the spot.

The kolam competition on two days had Preetha (she has also been registering more than 300 participants' name over phone), Sundar and Mathangi as volunteers.

Rahul Joined the team for shuttling between the foodcourt and the volunteers at different venues on the weekend.

On the backstage, Meenakshi presented the events on the stage. Other team members were Shreya, Sharanya, Bhargavi, Rajeswari and Ram.

Thank you volunteers for all the help and the spirit you kept up all the four days, before and beyond the festival too!

100 participants on Day 1 of Pallankuzhi contest!

The Pallankuzhi contest introduced last year (2008) as part of the festival is becoming more popular. About 50 teams - 100 participants - took part on the first day at Hotel Karpagam hall.
The senior citizens seemed happy just in playing the game.
Unlike the kids and youngsters, they are not keen on winning a prize. Playing the game which they did in their childhood was fun for them.
The rules for the contest was different from the format they used to play. Still they caught up with the rules quickly.
The kids enjoyed marking the games they won against their 'senior' partners.
The second day contest will be on at 2 pm today.
A quiz follows.
All the prizes - treasure hunt, kids kolam contest, quiz contest will be distributed after the Mylapore quiz at Karpagam Hall.
A docu on writer Su.Raa. will be screened at 6.30 pm

The Story so far . . .

10.45 pm. 

Part Three of the Mahabharatam act of Dakshinamurthy's therukoothu play comes to a close on the main on Day 4 of the Fest.

There are at least 250 people in the audience and that makes us all fell good.

There is still a goodly crowd for such shows.

And we hope we can continue hosting them.

Well trained students of our schools have made a good impression at the Fest. They may not have glitz but they perform well. Sivaswami Kalalaya and students of Radha Ramji set an example, of the groups I saw on stage.

They need to perk up their presentation though. . 

The food stalls ran out of food by 10 p.m.

There were many people who were disappointed.

We seem to run out of food even if we increase the inputs many fold every day!

If you did eat out here, please file your comments and give us ideas!

Good start, smooth progress!

This blog can't keep pace with the Fest!

Admission One.

The Fest just cannot meet the demand of hungry guests!

Admission Two.

We had a smooth launch on Jan 22. 

And we had people in numbers we didn't expect on an opening evening.

Indicator - the food stalls sold out by 9 p.m.

The crowds swelled after 7 p.m. on Day Two.

Packing in for the Sound and Light show.

It got better on Friday.

The weekend should be a blast.

I gotta have lunch and refresh and take charge of the Kolam Contest.

Will look forward to all your comments on the Fest this week and our posts will be only next week. So will be all the photos of the Fest.

Kolam-poti thaaney?!

Whenever we walk the Mada veedhis and bylanes in the run up to the Fest, the people who recognise us are the vegetable vendors, the 'mallipoo' sellers, the fruit hawkers and households around this place.

'Kolam-poti aa?', a 'poo' hawker asks me.

I share the Fest dates.

She passes it on to her fellow-hawkers. 

Late in the night, the kulfi hawkers cycle in. 

A five rupee kulfi tastes heavenly after a hard day's work. 

I tell the kulfi-wallah to land up on the Fest evenings with lots of kulfi and his fellowmen.

He promises to be there.

Check them out. 

The Sundaram Finance Mylapore Fest is all about live and let live too!

If you come across toymakers and treats your parents enjoyed, share your stories here.  .  

Trial on Stage

On Wednesday night, when the quadrangle had emptied and the main stage was set, the final rehearsal of the Mylapore Sound and Light show was held.

There were some hiccups. Naturally. Lighting. Floor movement. Dance steps. And the projection folks arrived late. Traffic jam, they said.

When it ended, the effort was worth it.

The track sounds good. Now the act must fall in place.

We want you there so you can then mail us feedback.

If we were to run this Show with just sound and light, how best can be adapt this first show?

Ideas welcome. Practical and genuine. . .