Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Breaking caste barriers

—PHOTO:R.M. RAJARATHINAM.

GRIPPING: Artistes of Tamizhnadu Kalai Ilakkiya Perumandram staging a play in Tiruchi on Saturday.

TIRUCHI: Deafening sounds of explosions create a scene of panic. The country is at the crossroads owing to mindless violence and attack by external forces. “Where to go! What has fate in store for me?” laments the hero of the sequence.

At this juncture, a senior citizen sings the heart-rending popular number ‘ Tamizha Tamizha, Naalai num naalae', keeping the audience spell-bound.

The climax sequence gained more significance, as the senior citizen appears on the stage, waving the National Flag on the right hand, giving a ray of hope for those affected.

This is one of the plays staged at the ‘Makkal Kalai Iravu' organised as part of the state conference of the Tamizhnadu Kalai Ilakkiya Perumandram in the city on Saturday.

The cultural programme witnessed the participation of a number of artistes in different age-groups. Children also exhibited their talents. In fact, there was an exclusive play by children which was directed by Puducherry Velusaravanan.

Every performance -- folk dance by the Kumari Murasu art troupe; plays by Kumari Vandhanam art troupe and Kovi. Selvaraj; dance-cum-drama by Puducherry Jayamoorthy; song on ‘native soil' by Tiruchi Jeeva -- had a common goal: emancipation of Dalits; dignity and honour for women; breaking the caste-based discrimination in the society.

The cultural programmes also sensitised the parents to give up the mania and obsession for English language when it comes to educating their wards.

A cross-section of poets and writers offered felicitations on the occasion. K. A. Gunasekaran, one of the progressive writers, said that though the Perumandram has been taking efforts through intensive campaign, the desired goals of eliminating untouchability and other social evils were yet to be achieved.

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