Mylapore Trio takes golu to slum dwellers

Navarathri festivities have started in full swing in the city with people going golu hopping to their friends' and relatives' homes. Though there are many families that have kept golu at their houses, what got us attracted to this family in Mandavelipakkam is the way in which they have blended creativity, culture, and tradition. Meet the Mylapore Trio — Amarnath, Surendranath and Aparna, who have popularised value-based thematic golus and have created a name for themselves in golu circles in the city. During the Navarathri season, their house is open to the public to view their grand golu arrangement that is spread across five rooms of their house. Their foster son, Sugathan and his sister Swathy have also joined them in setting up golu.

"The tradition of keeping golu was started by our foster parents, Sumukhi and Rajasekharan, who made a substantial contribution in the fields of charity, education, and culture during the second half of the 20th century. It's been 67 years since we started following the tradition. Apart from the main golu, we set up thematic golu every year like dasathatvas, vivahas, shanmathas, kalyana vaibogame, four yugas, four lokas, pancha bhudha sthalas, musical trinity, secularism, national integration, etc. This year, we have adapted the theme of Saraswathi Kataksham," says the eldest of the trio, Amarnath, who is a history professor at Presidency College.

The trio took us around their house and showed us the splendid arrangement of dolls and explained the value and story behind each doll. Some dolls and antiques are dating back to more than 100 years. Called as the cultural ambassadors of Chennai, they also have been judging golu competitions for the past 17 years.

What's more exciting about them is that they have been invited by Tamil Nadu's popular temples to set up elaborate thematic golus in the temple premises. "In 2009, we had set up ashtadikh (or eight-sided) golu at the Kapaleeshwarar temple in Mylapore. After that, we have been invited to Madurai Meenakshi temple, Parthasarathy temple and Ranganathaswamy temple of Srirangam. We were really surprised when we got the call because some of these are orthodox temples and them allowing us to set up golu was something we couldn't even imagine," reminisces Surendranath, who works as a freelance art director. Their foster son, Bharatanatyam and Mohiniyattom dancer Sugathan, also help them set up thematic golus.

More than 1,000 people from different sections of the society including slum children visit their five-room golu every year. The siblings believe in the idea of learning value-based stories from the highly artistic, divine and informative golu.

Aparna, the youngest sibling, says that they got the best of life from their foster parents both at home and at Kalakshetra, their alma mater where they had their full-fledged holistic education. "What's lacking in today's golu arrangement is the divinity that's associated with the tradition. Some people consider setting up golu like a school project but there is a distinct difference between a school project and a thematic golu! It's important to keep our traditions alive and parents should educate children about the story behind golu and the reason for keeping it at houses during Navarathri season," says Aparna, who works as a Chartered Accountant.

They also conduct workshops called Golu Paddhathi where they share their experiences of putting up a traditional golu in an aesthetic manner and also give suggestions regarding buying golu dolls.