Chennai's spirit catches on

I am just back after the Mylapore Festival during which the neighbourhood witnesses huge carpet of kolam in the weekend. And the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) invites for an evening of Pongal celebrations. The catch is a kolam competition that tempts me to drive down to the campus.

The student co-ordinator says that this contest would never match the Mylapore's kolams as most of the students are not from this part of the country. This kindles my curiosity more that I definitely want to be there.

The Basket Ball court in the campus turns into a front yard of a countryside row houses. About 20 kolams smile at you as you stand on the side of the court. I couldn't help asking the faculty if the students didn't really know about kolams before this contest! Such is the precision.

To me, the kolams drawn in the city do bring surprises, as I always thought that this art is mostly confined to the villages and to small towns. Life in the takes you away from the time-taking routine rituals. But every time the Mylapore Festival proves me wrong. And this time, the NIFT students too!

Colours in the sky

Thyagaraja Aradhana in Tiruvaiyaru is a nice occasion to soak in classical music. There are some crazy moments too that people, mostly singers try and grab a place to sit inside the pandal and offer anjali to saint Thyagaraja.

Once the five-day event is over and after the long night of listening to great nadaswarams, waking up early in the morning is really tough unless you have a great energy.

But, this time, I had to get ready to leave early to Chennai. And this was the gift for waking up early despite tired eyes due to lack of sleep.