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Photos: S. James and G. Moorthy

Bursting at its seams Young or old, the festival had everything to offer to all

To the thundering beats of the “thappu”, people dance in gay abandon matching the rhythm. The long arterial road is flooded with humanity and it takes minimum five minutes to cover a distance of just 10 metres. Any guesses about the time? Its well past midnight!

Even as the clock chimes twelve in the night, the size of the crowd does not dwindle. Instead, it swells. From the “Bheema bhushty halwa”, strong enough to rebound even a sharp object thrown at it, to the sticky sweet candy “javvu mittai” that paints your mouth pink; from the giant wheel that drives people to delirium with its spin to the clamour of drumbeats that propel one to tap feet. The Chithirai festival has all the essentials to attract one.

For the youth who hail from the Temple City, Chithirai fest means “80 per cent fun and 20 per cent spirituality.” For most of them, the day’s (rather night’s) proceedings starts with a darshan of the Lord. But what follows later is purely fun and frolic.

T.P. Marichamy from Karuvanoor, who works as a tea master in a shop in the city, is thrilled to be here with a bunch of childhood chums. “This is an annual occasion. During Deepavali or New Year you are not permitted to stay on the streets past midnight. It is only during this festival no one questions you. With vehicular traffic blocked on Alagarkoil Road, you have the liberty to stand even in the middle of the road, enjoy the fun drinks and culminate the joy in cinema theatres,” he winks.

Most of the cinema halls screen special night shows during this festival time. It is considered more as a peoples’ festival rather than a religious one. Any festival for that matter aims at a social gathering. It is seen as an occasion when one gets the opportunity to socialize full blast.

Admits R. Arulprakasam, a landlord of Poondi Village enroute Alagarkoil: “For the villagers in and around here, the celebration is more only when the Lord returns to his abode. Though there are several other spiritual reasons, a candid introspection will tell you the basic one that most of us stay away from non-vegetarian food from the day the temple flag of Lord Kallazhagar is hoisted. Only after the presiding deity crosses our place on his return journey we have a sumptuous non-vegetarian meal.”

Moreover, this is the time of the year when cockfights are organised in neighbouring villages. Though the Government has banned cockfights, they are organised in some places. Earlier, Rekala race was also part of the festival. But it has now fallen out of favour.

During the return journey, plenty of action takes place at Appan Thirupathi. From “Silambattam” to “Karagattam” all traditional martial arts are displayed and folk dance performances organised.

One also cannot take away the charm of the Government Chithirai Exhibition, which witness huge public gathering during the festival.

For those who always wonder whether the title of “Thoonga Nagaram” (the city that never sleeps) still has its relevance in the Temple City that has traversed so much, from a mega-village to an emerging destination for IT majors, this is the time to witness and dispel all doubts.

The three day “Chithirai Tourist Cultural Festival 2008” began on April 19 and went on all night, concluding only at around 5 a.m., when Lord Kallazhagar was gearing up to enter the Vaigai.

The second day of the cultural festival too saw thousands gathering to see the performances through the night. Not only the youngsters, who liked to stay out late night watching the entertainment, but also families, many of whom carried toddlers. Besides, farmers, peasants and labourers constituted the majority. The average urban middleclass families also turned up in large numbers to witness the proceedings.

As the clatter of drums and trumpeting began to get louder and sharper, the movements of the folk artistes too picked up the pace. Getting faster and faster, the performance finally climaxed provoking a huge round of applause from the highly diverse audience gathered at the Tamukkam Auditorium here.

The artistes put up a performance worthy of such a grand gathering. The night started off with performances from the legendary and indubitable folk artist Vijayalakshmi Navaneethakrishnan.

Her troupe put up a marathon four-hour performance, which was filled with not only dance and singing, but also interesting pieces of information about the art forms.

It was not rural arts all the way. A seismic shift in the atmosphere was brought about by the light music performances by members of “Madurai Vani and Co” to cater to the needs of the younger members of the audience. In a bid to create awareness on dying art forms, the traditional “Valli Tirumanam”, a play directed by the late Sankaradas Swamigal, a pioneer in the world of Tamil Theatre, was organised by the Department of Information and Public Relations.

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