Thursday, December 30, 2010
Stella Maris' PR Team is Out!
Their Head, Prof. Sundari was glad to let her girls work on this event.
A set of girls are doing the rounds of the mada veedhis distributing the Fest invites to all the stores and households. A personal touch here.
Another team will invite women who design great kolams but never get to read about the Fest, to sign up this year for the grand Kolam Contests (Jan 8 and ( afternoon).
A promo on a bullock cart and some nadaswaram would have made a huge impact this margazhi - we may think of this next year.
If there are other creative college groups who wish to work alongside this Fest, buzz us now.
Want to Volunteer?
We always get a cheery bunch of 60yearolds, 30yearolds and the odd teenager.
If you want to devote 3 hrs a day for four days at the Fest sign up at - mylaporefestival@yahoo.com
Revathi is the co ordinator.
You get a Tee and a cert. No big cash!
Two Contests on January 2. Come over!
Could we have made it a tad tough?
You tell us after the test on Sunday afternoon. Lets meet at 3.30 p.m. at Nageswarar Rao Park, Luz.
Three to a team. Come in with your friends - this can be fun when you bike around with a clue sheet to check out landmarks and pop spots in the area and find answers to our queries.
There is another contest at the Park. For kids who draw well with kolams.
A sit-design-think-colour kind of creative test.
We were astonished at the creative juices that came up last year.
Come over and watch this event.
A Green T-shirt. And another with a Peacock Motif!
One created using the prize winning design, a orangy blue peacock.
And another that our sponsor, Sundaram Finance has created with a green, green theme.
Both should appeal to you. So when you are at the Fest buy both.
The peacock motif will be available in black and in white base colour.
We have not decided on the prices. But you can afford them. And your friends abroad would love them as gifts!
Walking with Kids! And GSLV goes up in flames
I always celebrate it with Pongal or thereafter - well after the 'season' and the Mylapore Fest is done.
We had a Photowalk for Kids on Christmas Day.
Eleven kids came along - with their cameras.
We started off at the 16-pillared mantap outside Sri Kapali Temple, with Revathi as the team leader.
And the kids soon found that there was a lot to shoot.
Then suddenly, we caught up with a group on Ponnambala Vadyar Street which gazed at a huge spiral of smoke and fumes in the skies. Word came in that the GSLV launch from Sriharikota had been aborted and the launch vehicle destroyed. Some of the kids captured this on cam.
Whew! What a slow walk it was. And what a wonderful end at a heritage house on South Mada Street where Kalathi's rosemilk was served and the best pictures downloaded on to a Mac.
Look out for the photo exhibition at the 'theradi' during the Fest.
Please Note: The senior Chennai PhotoWalkers are offering some of their best photos (framed) as souvenirs at the Fest. Classic pictures taken in Mylapore. Check them out at the Info Booth.
Slow start on Blog
I dont have an answer.
Perhaps we got swamped with the December season ( www.kutcheribuzz.com).
We pulled up the Fest dates because we felt margazhi is the best time to have such a Fest.
We hope we are right.
And we are harrdly a week away and cant think of a decent New Year celebration!
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Feedback!
- Uma Naren, Chennai.
I am proud I am a Mylaporeian. I am regular visitor of the 'Mylapore Festival' from the year it started and have enjoyed the core events.
This year there was a human sea in the Food Street. I was also a part of it. On 22nd, I was having my snacks sitting near the Food Token Counter and could see the young girls efficiently handling the issue of tokens and handling cash simultaneously. I could see the plight of one girl who gamely did her work though she did not have five rupees in change.
I promised her that I would bring 5 rupee coins the next day and kept my promise - I gave her 40 such coins.
I am happy became part of this pretigious festival by doing this very, very, very little voluntary service.
- K. Renuja, Mylapore.
Congratulations to Vincent D' Souza and the team for the funtastic (pun intended) festival.
My list of things I enjoyed at the festival - All the talks at Lady Sivaswamy School, the variety of food, the first day show of the grand dance of 'Janani Jagat Karini' and the last day show of vintage film classics and the kolams in plain white maavu as usual tops all these!
Here are some cribbings - these may be of value to you.
-Pitchu Pillai Street is too narrow and the construction materials strewn all over adds to the congestion. You can think of alternate street.
-Lady Sivaswamy school hall is not suited for talks as it echos hugely.
- You can have volunteers posted on the southern side of the main stage to help temple goers head to the temple smoothly.
- A complete synopsis of what happened where at the festival in 'Mylapore Times' will be good reading pleasure as many events overlap each other. We could not visit the park in any of the four days.
- The contribution by your lieutenant Revathi needs a mention. Our family, myself, my wife and two grand children alone called 10 times and all the times we received correct and patient information. It is hard to find someone who works only with the identity of a phone number and not his or her name nowadays. Our sincere thanks and kudos to her.
- The festival team can also conduct more walks around this area under a banner 'Celebrating Mylapore' throughout the year and finally culminate in a grand walk during the Festival time. Residents of this locality can be invited to participate in the walk and share information.
- Brig. M. Gopalakrishnan, Mylapore.
Friday, January 29, 2010
The Cribs . . .
Velachery Balu's Pictures
Monday, January 25, 2010
Thank you volunteers!
The team of Priyanka, Sindhuja, Viswanath assisted by Priya in the evenings saw that the events at the Nageswara Rao park went on very well. The team had the bonus of enjoying their time with young kids painting on the spot and made colourful crafts in the evenings apart from the music kutcheris and plays.
The backstage team of Srividya, Rajeswari, Lakshmi and the emcee Janani received the artistes and their groups, helped stage the performances go on time all the days and saw the performers off with a warm smile.
The food and hospitality team of Rahul, Ganesh and Sharanya doubled up at the food counters and on the kolam contest areas. The team at the food counters selling the coupons to the visitors had to grow in numbers day by day. Gokul, Aishwarya, Varsha, Ganesh, Rahul, Sharanya, Prashanth, Raghav, Bhargavi, another Gokul joining the team on the weekend really enjoyed tearing the coupons and collecting monies, while the seniors Prabhakar and Saravanan couldn't believe their eyes seeing these young people smiling all through with heavy cash transactions at the counters!
The front desk lead by Jayaraman had Bhanumathy, Usha, Ragini and on the computer information was Saravanan.
The dance inside Sri Kapali temple was another event away from the buzzing streets. The groups of dancers each with more than a dozen kids, the guru and their orchestra were hosted by Sridevi.
Harikrishnan, a hosteler at Vivekananda College helped in organising chairs for the artistes on Pitchu Pillai Street, the handicrafts women and the Tamil book stalls and then hopped across to the talk show to assist Deepika there and then to the food counters. Harihara Sudhan, a student of class 11 also spared his time amidst his busy schedule of studies and classes.
The weekend shows are a challenge at the festival as they are all conducted one after the other and the major contests - kolam, pallankuzhi and dayakkatam attract more than 100 participants. The team of volunteers at the backstage, talk show, food counters, info desk multitasked to be at the kolam area and then moved on to their respective posts. Joining the team is Sundar who sees to the kolam event till the prize distribution. He has been doing this for six years now.
Kalavathy, another regular volunteer for the weekends, helps out at the traditional games contest every year and she did so this year too. Kamala, a young girl in class 9, registered with us to volunteer on weekends this year and she promptly reported at the traditional games event running about for chalk pieces for drawing dayakattam on the floor, spreading the mats and placing chairs for senior participants, distributing scoring sheets and collecting them back!
We thank you all, volunteers! Without you the festival wouldn't have been possible.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Three more videos. Watch and Spread the word!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Friday, January 22, 2010
Rickshaw Tour Booked, Temple tour open
Parcel Service Irukku!
Kids Writing Camp Cancelled
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Creative Writing Camp;Jan 23 / 24
Thamizh Writers Chat!
Rewind Mylapore Memories
Grab a cloth bag
Kids! Work with French Artists!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Cycle Rickshaw Heritage Tour; Last Call
Videos On YouTube
Monday, January 11, 2010
Calling School Students to Video Report
Four Evenings of Cool Talks
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Pre Events Contests off to a Nice Start!
Friday, January 08, 2010
Wanted: Community Media Volunteers
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Four evenings of Classical Dance
Jan. 21 - Students of Kanagasabai School of Fine Arts, disciples of Sasirekha Raammohan
Jan. 22 - Students of R. S. Bharatha Natyalaya, disciples of Parvathy Mohan
Jan. 23 - Students of Bharatha Kalalayam, disciples of Hemalatha Ramachandran
Jan. 24 - Students of Kaladarshana, disciples of Jayanthi Subramaniam
Friday, January 01, 2010
MYLAPORE QUIZ 3; go for it!
Three winners get T-shirts.
Mail answers to - mylaporefestival@yahoo.com.
Deadline - Jan 10, 9 p.m.
QUESTIONS
1. Two legendary Mylaporean restaurants exist today. One is Karpagambal Mess. Name the other.
2. What is an odd feature of the gopurams of Sri Kapali Temple?
3. Where would you find St. Rita's Church?
4. Name the famed artist-actor-classical musician who lives on Nadu Street?
5. What is 'Rain Tree'? A store, a club or a hotel in the neighbourhood?
Suggest Great Heritage Houses please
A short list of houses in the areas of Sri Kapali Temple, Chitrakulam zone, Nadu Street zone and North Mada - Kutchery Road is being drawn out.
Those families who own houses that deserve to be recognized can mail a short note on their names and addresses ( we prefer owners of houses to correspond) and a few lines on the age and special features of the house.
The organizers plan to honour the best with plaques during the Fest.
Send us your suggestions - mylaporefestival@yahoo.com
Pre Events Contests Info - on Jan 10
Next weekend, on January 10, Sunday your family is invited to three pre-events that set the tone for this year's fest.
A Discover Mylapore Contest, a Create a Kolam Contest and a Colour a T-shirt Design Contest.
While the first is open to adults and teens, the latter two are specifically for school children.
Later that day, the Open House will provide space and time for participants of the Kolam, Pallankuzhi and Dayakattam events to chat with the resource people and clarify doubts and make enquiries. (at P S School hall, 4 pm, for an hour)
The Discover Mylapore Contest should generate a great amount of excitement and steam as it did last year when 51 teams scurried around the neighbourhood with clue sheets.
At 7 a.m. at Nageswara Rao Park in Luz, there is a briefing session. Clue sheets will be given to teams (3 members). The clue sheets have two functions. First, it leads to various popular and less known destinations. Once you get there, the section also has a question and the answer of it can be got by looking around that very place.
So if the clue takes you to, say the Anjaneya Temple on Luz Church Road and that place is the right one, you look for the answer to a query related to the place. Perhaps you need to get the year in which this temple was built and jot it down.
There are 15 destinations, some easy some tough and the organizers do not want teams to use cars to zip around.
Teams get two hours to crack this contest. Registration is not required.
The aim of the event is to get Mylaporeans to know more about their local landmarks and people.
The Create a Kolam Contest and a Colour a T-shirt Design Contest will start at 8 am at the same park. Open to kids in Classes 6 to 12. 45mins. Which means you cant take part in both - so decide. Designs on chart board will be given to you - you need to bring art materials please.
Prizes will be awarded at the Mylapore Quiz Contest finale - Jan 24 afternoon at Lady Sivaswamy School hall.