Heritage walks and Kalathi rose milk!

For the first time perhaps, a religious festival with social overlaps, had a poster for itself.
The annual Panguni Fest of Sri Kapali Temple, Mylapore.

We at MYLAPORE TIMES seem to get sucked into everything Mylapore!
Over the years, we have brought out a little brochure on this colourful fest.

And this time, with some support from Nallis, we put out a colourfully designed ( designer - K. S. Gunasekar) poster ( which you can enjoy here)
And we put it up at all the touristy destinations, hangouts and community centres.

I believe that such festivals need better promotion in Chennai. And though I did send a poster to Irai Anbu, said to be a dynamic government secretary (now with the Tourism Dept.) we did not get an acknowledgement.
I suppose such private and small efforts rarely get recognised and reason why they do not go on to bloom!

We weren't dampened though. With gifts as prizes from www.yocee.in, we held an arts contest for kids for the fest. Kids had to sit near the temple ther (chariot), gaze at the ther and draw their own version of a chariot!
A note which 'The Hindu' put out on this contest had a devil's error! Or was it a printer's devil?!! It said the contest was at 8 pm! And we got dozens of calls wondering why the contest was so late!


But 26 kids enjoyed their fun beside the 'ther'. Some of the drawings were great, and colourful too.
It was a way to get the kids to know what a ther is all about!

We also had the adults out to enjoy the sights of the festival. They were on a heritage walk that Namma Mylapore, a local NGO for civic and heritage issues, facilitates.

Its members take turn to be guides and we normally end up having a pongal-vada breakfast at a tiled house in Pitchupillai Street and wash the food down with chilled rose milk from the famed Kalathi shop on East Mada Street.

I think if we have a small team of young people who love Chennai and its history and want to act as guides on heritage walks, then there are more walks/tours to offer not just tourists but our own people.

Last night, I got a e-mail from a writer of the recently-launched business paper, MINT. From the Hindustan Times group. She wants to write a feature on heritage walks in metros. And she located info on our walks in www.frommers.com - the world famous travel info folks.

By the way, if you have time, check out all the info on Chennai on Frommers. There are many slips.

If you have explored some great areas in the city, let us know.