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| You are here: COL home > Festivals & Religion > Navarathri > Articles > Tough Competition | ||||||||||||||||
Touch Competition They won twice the kolu competition organised by Mylapore Times, a community paper of Chennai. Now they act as judges for the kolu competition that is held yearly by Mylapore Times. For S Amarnath, S Surendar, S Aparna and their family, Navarathri is as important as Deepavali is While most others just bring down the dolls from the 'paran' on Mahaliya Amavasai day and arrange them in a haphazard way, Surendar, whose training in art and craft helps him lead an aesthetic life, begins work two weeks ahead. That is because their kolu begins from the verandah of the house and runs into the living room and bedrooms. And there are themes and themes. This year the verandah sports the theme of the four yugas. They have intelligently used a statue of Buddha to describe Kali Yuga, because they think the crying need of the times is peace! The main kolu is actually three kolus put together in a huge hall. Not a single space on the wall has been excluded and not a bit of ceiling that has not been covered with decoration. The trio had to add two more steps to the traditional seven steps because family friend and retired university professor C E Ramachandran gave them most of his 'heirloom' dolls just before Navarathri. Wait, the nine steps alone don't constitute kolu in this house. There are two more additional three-step kolus facing this one in the same hall. The one on the left has another theme. A tribute to the Mummurthigal: Thyagarajar, Shyama Shastri and Muthuswamy Dikshitar. Surendar proudly claims that the small idols of Shyama Shastri and Dikshitar were especially commissioned for them by a famous store in Chennai. A huge idol of Ayyappa, donated by Prof Ramachandran, sits majestically in the third kolu. It is easily a few decades old but hardly shows any signs of ageing. One of the living rooms has the Nativity scene depicted beautifully. Even the shelves are not spared. On one of the shelves in the main hall, the youngsters have created different lokas: Patala Lokam, Sathya Lokam, Vaikuntam and Kailasam. The other shelf has the awards they were presented by Ilakkiya Charal last year for their exceptional involvement in setting up a magnificent kolu. There is also the park and mountain that are an integral part of any kolu. All this effort for nine days, you may wonder. Wrong. Navarathri does not end for Amarnath's family with Vijayadasami. So, if you are interested, drop in at No. 2 (old no. 61), 4th Trust Cross Street, Mandavelipakkam, Chennai - 600 024 for another 10 days or call them on 4935521 and fix up an appointment. They are wonderful hosts. Catch a glimpse of their kolu... S.Chitra Other
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to most others.
