Mylapore festival to begin on Thursday

Talking to DT Next, T T Srinivasaraghavan, MD of Sundaram Finance that has been presenting the festival for close to two decades, said, “This year, too, we have included performances from other parts of the country.”

The events include a Rajasthan folk dance medley, kids’ kolam contest, pallankuzhi and dayakattam contests, along with arts and craft workshops and traditional games mela.

The festival that started with a single event -- kolam contest -- has gone on to become one of the biggest festivals in the city, capturing the mood and flavours of a quintessential street festival. “The idea was to recreate a Thiruvizha concept and use public spaces. Today, the festival has gone beyond the Kapaleeswarar Temple and the four Mada Streets to accommodate Nageswara Rao Park and other Streets,” Srinivasaraghavan added.

The festival that touched upon the need to go eco-friendly almost a decade ago will be seen furthering the cause of the plastic ban that came into effect recently. The four-day festival ending on January 13 comprises of at least 40 events at a dozen venues with presentations from around 400 artists.