The huge cast comes out at the conclusion of “Thadathagai—The Eternal Queen of Madurai.”
25 December Chennai
I returned to Mylapore on my own and started with
a late ‘tiffen’ lunch at Saravana Bhavan before heading over to Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan for a pair of evening performances. Srekala Bharath & Thejas presented
“Thirukutrala Kuravanji,” a group of eight Bharatanatyam dancers including the
guru/choreographer. Meenakshi Chitharanjan then offered a solo Bharatanatyam
performance, “When the Arrow Strikes,” and I appreciated that she gave short
explanations in English before each dance. Afterward I enjoyed a light dinner at
Nithya Amirtham, another of the large restaurants in Mylapore.
26-27
December Chennai
I took a few rest days and stayed closer to my
accommodations. Although Mylapore has lovely performances and the big
Kapaleeshwarar Temple, the extreme traffic congestion had become very tiring.
Susindar was busy serving on a panel for an awards program to be held on the
29th. The Italian restaurant Basil with a Twist, very close to my room, fixes a
wonderful pumpkin soup, which I have every time I go there. On the 26th I got
the soup plus a thin-crust mushroom spinach pizza, then concluded with a
tiramisu.
28 December Chennai
Bharat Kalachar—one of the many
festival venues—is just 500 meters from where I’m staying. It’s now hosting its
35th Margazhi Mahotsav 2023-2024 with an extensive offering of music and dance
programs in the large open-sided auditorium. As a bonus, I could take photos of
the performances. I headed over in the afternoon for a vocal recital by
Kalyanapuram Aravind accompanied by violin, mridangam, and ghatam (clay pot
played as a drum), which attracted a sparse yet appreciative audience. The
evening event had a huge cast and a large enthusiastic audience for Urmila
Sathyanarayana’s Natya Sankalpaa ensemble’s Bharatanatyam dance drama
“Thadathagai—The Eternal Queen of Madurai.” None of the narration was in
English, but the story clearly showed the triumph of good over evil, with people
seeming to live happily ever after at the end.
The huge
cast comes out at the conclusion of “Thadathagai—The Eternal Queen of Madurai.”
29 December Chennai
In
the evening I returned to Bharat Kalachar for a group Bharatanatyam of Dr.
Radhika Shurajit’s “Kandha-Kadamba-Kadhirvela,” a Natya Production of Kandha
Shasti Kavacham. I enjoyed the performances, though the audience was much
smaller than last night. The announcer suggested that people in the back are
welcome to move to the front, which I did for a better view.
30 December
Chennai
In the afternoon I had a late lunch of pumpkin soup and hummus & pita
at Basil with a Twist, then walked over to Bharat Kalachar to hear Ambri
Subramaniam play violin solos of works by his father along with artists on the
mridangam, morsing (similar to a Jew’s harp), and ghatam.
Ambri Subramaniam,
violin soloist
Sheela Unnikrishnan, founder-director of the Sridevi Nrithyalaya Dance School, then presented the dance drama “Srinivasa Kalyanam.” The story tells of Vishnu, who incarnated as Srinivasa, meeting a beautiful girl named Padmavati, an incarnation of Laxmi. They fell in love, yet only after overcoming many complications could their grand wedding (kalyanam) take place.
Hindu sages at the
dramatic opening of “Srinivasa Kalyanam”
The audience loved
this pair of cows!
There seems to be a
lot going on here.
Garuda, vehicle of
Vishnu, writes wedding invitations.
Srinivasa takes
flight atop Garuda .
The wedding ceremony
Flower petals fly
in celebration.
The cast comes
onstage at the conclusion of the performance.
31
December Chennai
To celebrate the last day of 2023 I joined Susindar at his
home for a long walk in the late afternoon. The small lanes of his neighborhood
were fine for a stroll, but then we had to go on busy roads—not my idea of a
place to go for a walk. We did have a wide sidewalk for the long bridge over the
broad Adyar River. On the other side of the river we came to the main entrance
for the vast wooded park of the Theosophical Society. Despite a NO VISITORS sign
we headed through the gate and nobody questioned us. I turned out that a
convention was taking place now, so the security people probably thought we were
part of that. We followed paved lanes past scattered buildings and parks in the
forest, stopping to hear a group of singers presenting popular and traditional
songs in an open-sided auditorium. We continued east to the far end of the
grounds, then followed a dirt path beside the Adyar River back to the main area.
Susindar wished to join the conventioneers for dinner, which turned out to be a
traditional style event with people seated along one side of long narrow tables,
then servers would bring South Indian vegetarian foods and plop servings onto
our banana leaves. The dinner turned out to be very tasty, well worth the Rs.
100 ($1.20). Afterward an elderly gentleman invited me to join a ceremony in a
nearby hall. Here a circle of people dressed in blue and white lit candles, then
took turns doing readings in English from texts of major religions of the world.
Meanwhile, Susindar had begun the walk home. I wasn’t keen on walking the busy
roads at night, so got an auto taxi back to my room. Street dogs hung out in the
neighborhood and seemed a bit aggressive this evening, probably unnerved because
of firecrackers going off. Scattered fireworks peaked at midnight to celebrate
the ushering in of 2024.
An enjoyable stroll
on the grounds of the Theosophical Society
Evening ceremony of
the Theosophical Society