Karicharakadavu - unspoilt nature

You may not find Karicharakadavu in any tourist literature or even in any blogs. It is small village not far from Kazhakuttam. On National highway, you turn left at Kaniyapuram after the bus stand (at Althara junction) to the Chirayinkeezh road and within a few kilometers, you are at Karicharakadavu.Another left turn and a brief ride you are reach the water's edge. The waterbody you see is an extension of Murukkampuzha. Kadinmkulam is on the opposite side.  One can see a few country boats and a lone cottage used by some  picnickers. 

Loop Shop?

A 'loop' shop in Kazhakuttam.

Do they sell Copper -T and other IUD's too? 

A loop shop in Kazhakuttam

Odissi

Aloka Kanungo performs Odissi at the Mudra festival in Vylopilli Bhavan. Aloka has trained under Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Raghunath Dutt and Mayadhar rout. She runs Shinjin Nrityalaya

Rains in Trivandrum

The monsoon set in in its full glory on 3rd June. Being a Monday and first day of school, there were traffic snarls everywhere. Low lying areas were also inundated. 

Shops had little business on this rainy day,  but shopfronts were convenient shelters.

Backward Front - an oxymoron

One of many wall paintings in Trivandrum The first line in Malayalam reads "Pinnokka Munnani", literally, Backward Front. An oxymoron, if there is one.

Pacman sunset

Anyone remember Pac-man, one of the early computer and video games? The circular PacMan with a wide mouth chomps pellets through a maze, while avoiding enemies who pop up at random.
This setting sun captured from a hillock on  Kunnumpuram near Kovalam resembles the Pac-Man.

Pac-Man like setting sun over Kovalam

Veena concert at Levee Hall

Anantha Padmanabhan and Anand Kaushik on the Veena at the Swati Sangeetothsawam conducted by Doordarshan Kendra, Thiruvananthapuram, at Levee Hall, fort.

Free auto service

Many autos in Thiruvananthapuram offer free rides to devotees during the Attukal pongala

Odishi at Nishagandhi 2013

Sharmila Biswas and her troupe from Odishi Vision and Movement Centre performed at Nishagandhi amphitheatre on Tuesday. She is a discipline of Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra. 
The four part offering was titled "Chaturmukhi". The opener, "Devi Bharni' was dedicated to Goddess Sambaleshwari. (is Sambalpur named after this Devi?). This was followed by 'Trikayee' exploring dance, music and rhythm. 'Leela' which followed was an Abhinaya of an episode involving Radha and her sakhi. The concluding number, Moksha  was a joyous celebration of beauty and liberation. 

Swathi Sangeethotsawam 2013 at Kuthira maalika

The generally sleepy Kuthira maalika comes alive every January with the Swathi Sangeethotsavam.- a week long festival of concerts. It was inaugurated on Friday, the 4th January this year  with a concert by Sanjay Subramanyan.

On 5th January, Price Rama Varma was the artiste. Here are some pictures of the concert and the venue.

This being the Bicentenary of Maharaja Swati Thirunal, it is a 10 day festival from 4th January to 13th January, instead of the usual 7 days. The detailed programme is given below: (courtesy: kuthiramalika info)

Swathi Sangeethotsavam January 4th to 13th ,2013

              At Kuthiramalika Palace , East Fort , Trivandrum

 

4-1-2013                   Sri Sanjay Subrahmanyan              -    Vocal                     

Friday                       Sri S.Varadarajan                          -    Violin

6pm to 9pm              Sri S.J.Arjun Ganesh                     -    Mridangam

                                Udupi Sri Srikanth                         -    Kanjira

                                Dr S.Karthick                                -    Ghatam

                              

 

5-1-2013                   Prince Rama Varma                      -     Vocal

Saturday                   Sri S.Varadarajan                          -     Violin

6pm to 9pm              Sri B.Harikumar                            -     Mridangam

                                Dr S.Karthick                                -     Ghatam

 

 

6-1-2013                   Master Siddharth                            -     Vocal         

Sunday                     Sri Sampath                                   -      Violin

5 to 6:30pm              Dr G.Babu                                     -      Mridangam

 

6:30pm                     Sri J.B Sruthisagar                         -      Flute

                                Sri Sampath                                  -      Violin

                                Sri N.C.Bharadwaj                        -     Mridangam

                                Nerkunam Sri Shankar                   -     Kanjira

                                Sri Hariharasubramaniam               -     Ghatam

 

 

7-1-2013                   Ms Amrutha Venkatesh                 -     Vocal               

Monday                    Avaneeswaram Sri S.R.Vinu         -     Violin 

6pm to 9pm              Dr G.Babu                                   -    Mridangam

                                Perukavu Sri P.L.Sudheer             -    Ghatam

                                                                                          

 

8-1-2013                   Sikkil Sri Gurucharan                     -    Vocal

Tuesday                   Sri V.Sanjeev                                 -    Violin

6pm to 9 pm            Poongulam Sri Subramaniam          -    Mridangam

                               Manjoor Sri Unnikrishnan               -    Ghatam          

 

 

9-1-2013                 Ramakrishnan Murthy                     -    Vocal

Wednesday            Avaneeswaram Sri S.R.Vinu            -    Violin

6pm to 9pm            Palghat Sri Maheshkumar                -    Mridangam

                              Perukavu Sri P.L.Sudheer               -    Ghatam

 

 

 

10-1-2013                Smt Ranjini Guruprasad                 -    Vocal

Thursday                 Sri R.K Sriramkumar                     -    Violin

6pm to 9pm             Sri B.Ganapathyraman                  -    Mridangam

                               Udupi Sri Sridhar                          -    Ghatam

11-1-2013                 Sri Debapriya Adhikary                 -    Hindustani Vocal

Friday                      Sri Samanwaya Sarkar                   -    Sitar     

6pm to 9pm              Sri Nitin Mitta                               -    Tabla                                                               

 

 

12-1-2013                 Sri Vighnesh Eashwar                   -    Vocal

Saturday                   Sri S.R.Mahadev Sarma               -    Violin

6pm to 9pm              Sri K.V Prasad                             -    Mridangam

                                Udupi Sri Srikanth                        -    Kanjira

                                Sri Guruprasad                             -    Ghatam

                               

 

13-1-2013                 Sri O.S. Arun                                -    Vocal

Sunday                    M.R.Gopinath                                -    Violin

6pm to 9pm             Sri J.Vaidhyanathan                        -    Mridangam

                               Dr S.Karthick                                 -    Ghatam

                               Sri Ganapathi                                 -    Tabla    

Manipuri dance at Nishagandhi

Manipuri Nata Sankeerthana by the troupe of Baisali Sarkar performing at Nishagandhi Festival, Trivandrum 

Kite Festival, Kovalam

350 kites made from recycled newspapers on one string

Hay Festival in Kerala

The Hay festival comes to Trivandrum again.


Pictures show award winning illustrator, Ed Verve, enthralling the audience - children and adults alik - with his story telling, story making, and drawing sessions.

Anosh Irani, Canada based novelist and playwright (left) and Farrukh Dhondy, author and screenplay writer for films and television (3rd from left) in conversation with Sanjoy Roy and Bina Paul

The lawns of the Kankakunnu palace, where the festival was held

Chenthitta Bhagavathy temple

The street facing the Chenthitta temple. (Taken with my Blackberry)

Chenthitta bhagavathy temple is situated in the heart of Trivandrum. This serene little temple overlooks the Trivandrum Railway station. During navartari the temple burst into life as the deity Munnootinanka is brought here from Suchindram.

Jackfruit Mela in Thiruvananthapuram

Tagore Exhibition on Wheels

The Indian Railways, dedicated a whole rake of air conditioned coaches to showcase the life and works of Rabindranath Tagore on his 150th Anniversary. The rake went from station to station all over India and was in Trivandrum in the second week of October.

Visitors viewing the Tagore exhibition on rails at Trivandrum Central Station, Platform #1.

Vyloppilli Samskriti Bhavan

Now I am on the mailing list of Vylopilli Samskriti Bhavan.

During the last Nangyar koothu performance, I dropped my lens pouch in the Koothambalam. I could retrieve it three days later thanks to Ms. Annie, the programme officer and other friendly staff of the Bhavan. Annie has also put me on the mailing list for the monthly programmes. No more straining to read the "Today's Engagement' column in the Hindu.

Last Saturday, I missed the Chakyar Koothu by Margi Chakyar. The next two programmes are Malayalam Drama and poetry evenings. I may give them a go-by.

Sri Swati Tirunal Jayanthi

The 197th Swathi Thirunal Jayanthy and 68th Anniversary of Sri Swati Tirunal Sangita Sabha is being held between 28th April and 9th May, 2010 at the Karthika Thirunal Theatre, East Fort, Trivandrum.

Following is schedule of some of the performers.

28th April: Bombay Sisters

29th April: Sreevalsan Menon

2nd May : Rudrapattanam Brothers

4th May: Neyveli Santhanagoplan

5th May : Dr.Ranganath Sharma

7th May: Madurai GS Mani

9th May: TV Gopalakrishnan

I was able to attend the concert of Srivalsan Menon on 29th.

Here is a partial list of songs from his concert.

Jaya jaya padmanabha : Sarasangi

Paripaalayam - Reeti gowla

Paalayamam -Khamas

Anjaneyane -Saaveri

Paramapurusha - Vasantha

RTP- Kaapi , (Misra chaapu)

(sorry, no pictures, as I had not taken my camera. Let me see if the phone cam picture is good enough to post.)

Craft Exhibition

Collage of some exhibits at the Gandhi Shilp Exhibition at the Kanakunnu palace grounds.

Natural bird nests for sale

This is Kuttappan at his stall selling bamboo products.- bamboo ek tara, bamboo drums, lampshdes, wine mugs, penstands etc. Kuttappan comes from Ramakkalmedu in Idukky district. Legend has it that Lord Rama halted at Ramakkal medu in search of Sita as this place overlooks a vast valley and some towns of Tamil Nadu.

Kadinamkulam, poor man's Vembanad

Thanks to Google maps, I discovered Kadinamkulam on a Saturday evening. It is just 12Kms from Kazhakuttam, the seat of Technopark. You proceed on NH 47 and turn into Vettu road. It takes you to the junction at St. Andrews. Turn right (North) at St. Andrews and proceed for about 4-5 Kms to Mariyanad Kadinamkulam lake is just 1 km from this junction. For locals, this just an everyday sight, but to me it appeared like a poor man's Vembanad. A country boat can ferry you to the other bank (Mrukkampuzha) in about 15 minutes.On the way from Kazhakootam you can also enjoy the isolated beaches at St.Andrews, Vettiyathura and also some magnificent churches and one or two small temples.