The sun came out on Wednesday. And on Thursday. And on Friday.
And we are hoping that it will signal the end of a long monsoon season, so that the annual Sundaram Finance-Mylapore Festival keeps its date in Mylapore. From January 5 to 8, 2006.

The Fine Arts students of Stella Maris College are excited. A group walked down Pitchupillai Street (the one next to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan) to survey it and see what inspires them.

This will be the Arts Street - the place where these talented girls sit down on low platforms on the street and make colourful pots and book marks, paint on canvas, demonstrate fabric print methods . . . and lots more.

Anything artistic goes with the Mylapore Festival.

FOOD STREET

Caterer 'Subham' Ganesan, back this year, will give a rustic look to his stalls that will offer you the best traditional dishes this year on Sundareswar Street. The Food Street.
Ganesan has a surprise waiting - Kerala specials.
This time around, we are looking forward to women who make one of the 1000s of self-help groups promoted by the Tamil Nadu Government, to have sales in the Crafts Corner.
The TN Womens Development Corporation is sponsoring a group of 12 women from suburban Chennai who will display their best crafts works.

KIDS ZONE

The campus of Lady Sivaswamy Girls School, whose management, has always welcomed the Fest, will host many small events. A Kids Zone will be created on its open court - crafts, painting and games wil be held over short sessions. In the hall inside, Madras' delightful story teller Randor Guy will present an illustrated talk. The topic - 'The Legal Eagles of Mylapore'. Another historian, V. Sriram will talk on 'History of
The Music Academy - 1927 - '62'.

At the same venue, some of Madras' hard-boiled quizzers will battle it out in the TAMIL NADU QUIZ. Open to teams of two, it will be exclusively on everything Tamil Nadu. Prizes include a weekend holiday in a nice TN destination!

Artist Surendranath and his Sumukhi Rajasekharan Foundation is co-ordinating with twelve families who created some great kolus last Navaratri, to repeat the artistic models for an exhibition at this venue.

FOLK SHOWS

In the Rasi showroom quadrangle, where the main shows are held, there will be a string of folk performances on January 5 and 6, after 7pm. Some 20 artistes will perform daily, on and off the stage, erected outside the temple mantap. South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur, is hosting the folk artistes.
On Day One, a 40 violins concert by students of C. A. Rajasekhar Violin Academy will seize the area! On Jan.7 evening, a Hindu mythological drama will be staged. Very few troupes today pursue this art and we chose to encourage this troupe, which has many artistes from Mylapore.

On Sunday (Jan. 8), there will be a two-hour long concert of vintage Tamil film songs - the hits of TMS - T. M. Soundarajan. We expect the place to be houseful, so come in early.

KOLAM CONTESTS

Our most famed event - the Kolam Contests - will be on Jan.7 and 8, 3.30pm onwards on North Mada Street. Already, 200 women have signed up for the two days. Another100 can be accommodated. We are also having a contest for school kids (up to Std.10). To encourage people to revive interest in the kolam, we are holding workshops in some residential campuses on the Christmas weekend. (Call 2499 4599 to invite our gurus!)

HERITAGE TOURS

There will be two Heritage Walks - rather they will be Tours on rickshaws. Cyclerickshaws.
Mylapore still boasts of a few dozen of these enviro-positive vehicles so we have signed up a dozen to take kids around Mylapore-San Thome areas (Jan.7) and adults on Jan.8. Starts at 7am at Luz Church. (Fee- Rs.50). Yes, the Carnatic music concerts will be held in the Nageswara Rao Park every morning,
6 am onwards, despite the chill.
Yes, there will be dance concerts inside the Sri Kapali Temple on all four evenings.

FRINGE EVENTS

Alongside the temple tank (eastern side), shops will sell Thamizh books - some 3000 titles from 12 companies, will be on sale. Kizhakku Pathipagam of Mylapore is co-ordinating this event.
A photo contest is lined up. A few other fringe events are on the cards.
If you wish to lend a hand or ask for more info, call Vasantha on 520 76921 / 2499 3767.