Kuchipudi and Cholliyattam

South Madras i.e Chennai is quite popular in promoting classical music and dance almost through out the year.

Two such events that took place in Sep. 08, are Seminar/awards/performance of Kuchipudi dance organised by Saila Sudha, headed by Dr. Shailaja at Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan on 27 th and 28 th and the second by Kalakshethra, 'Sankara Menon Birth centenary celebrations' which had a lec-dem on 'Cholliyattam' a form of Kathakali on 23rd Sep.

This is a belated report, still would like to share because they are basically from neighbouring states.

Kuchipudi had two full day events of lec-dem, documentary, honouring of gurus etc. Evening both days had performances.

On 27th the dancer was Yamini Reddy, daughter of Radha & Raja Reddy the famous Kuchipudi dancer couple. She was young, talented and had variety. First she performed some invocatory items which had the traditional Kuchipudi touch. Then there was a ragamalika with navarasas and Yamini showed her mettle in abhinaya. The final item was a padam as is known to everyone it was in sringara rasa.

The highlight of the program was the performance of Prahalada Charithram by the artistes from the village of kuchipudi and it really had the fervour of the desi, rustic beauty in presentation.

This took place in heart of the Metro, i.e. in Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore, but the artistes were tireless and went probably up to 11.00 as though it is being performed in an open air stage in a village.

The second festival was Kalakshethra's from 21.09.08 to 29.09.08 being the birth anniversary of Sri. Sankara Menon, ex-director (1986-1995), which had Lec-dem in the mornings and kutcheries in the evenings.

Cholliyattam, a folk type classical dance of kerala was performed by P.V. Balakrishnan and his team from Kerala. He gave brief introduction about the dance. Cholliyattam was prior to the evolution of Kathakali, which was an offshoot of Cholliyattam. The rhythm, layam, thalam, nadai are all preset and the artiste has to follow strictly the choreography. He cannot innovate and thus the method of performing is woven perfectly. The rendering of the song is generally slow and the songs, mostly in Sanskrit with only few phrases here and there are in Malayalam. The songs depict any episode from epics like Ramayana, Mahabharatha etc.

The song selected on 23.09.08 was a story from Mahabharatha. Indra wants his son Arjuna to get the Pasupadasthram from Lord Shiva. He sends his messenger (Madali) with a chariot. Arjuna accepts Indra's call, reaches his place and gets the blessings of Indra and sets out to do penance to get Pasupadasthram from Lord Shiva. So there were 3 scenes, Messenger pleading Arjuna to visit Indira, Arjuna accepting it and reaching the celestial palace of Indira, and thirdly, Arjuna doing penance and getting 'Pasupadasthram from Lord Shiva.

The first item was 'salajjoham' set to Adathalam, kanda nadai, irattai kilai. So naturally it was very elaborate and slow.

Sri. P.V.Balakrishnan and his troop did extremely well, but, as he had already told the tempo was slow, duration long and the dance heavy. The students of Kalakshethra would have learnt new dimensions from this performance.

Deepavali - the great indifest

Deepavali or Diwali is an indian national festival which is the most popular among festivals. Why? Simple. There is no elaborate puja, rituals, fasting, bhajans etc etc.


Take head bath, dress trendy (of course within your means), get the blessings of elders at home. That is all, then enjoy burning crackers with friends & neighbours, visit relatives & friends, go to temples, movies (Deepavali release), eat well without restrictions, exchange sweets and snacks prepared at home/purchased. The newly weds enjoy their bounty. The peer group exchange greetings and pep glances in appreciation of the latest designer dresses. The oldies sit at home and enjoy the special programmes on TV. Deepavali, a fest filled with fun & frolic (despite the soaring price rise)

The business community perform Lakshmi Puja, as Diwali is the beginning of their accounting year.

Getting the blessings of elders on a festival day, is that not very much an indian concept irrespective of caste, creed, religion etc? That is why the entire India celebrates Deepavali in such a grand manner.

Here are some deepavali scenes photographed in the past one week.

Rangachari Cloth Stores selling traditional sarees and dress materials

Cloud 9 Mens' & Children wear readymade Shop. Saanskrutie exhibition at C.P. Art Centre.

The New Bombay Halwa House Gearing up on Diwali eve. T. Nagar shopping junction.

Sri Kapaleeswarar Temple and Sri Sai Baba Temple at Mylapore.

Annai Illam Old Age Home at Mylapore on Deepavali day.

New variety rockets that illuminated the sky this year.

Satellite – Role in Telecommunication & Broadcasting

Recently I happened to hear a lecture on the subject topic.
Only a broad outline I could grasp and that I am sharing with you.


The guest who presented the lecture was Nellai S. Muthu, Scientist, Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Shriharikota. He has authored 90 books on Science and Technology, 4 of which got Tamilnadu State award. He has also translated the book 'India 2020' written by Dr. Abdul Kalam into Tamil at the later's request during his tenure as President of India

Sri Nellai S.Muthu, being so versatile, both in technical knowledge and in the language Tamil, the presentation was effortless with amazing usage of Tamil equivalent for scientific nomenclature.

Now I reproduce a glimpse of the subject topic.

Earth’s atmosphere has got different layers.
Up to 16km - Troposphere, where there is oxygen, nitrogen, water vapour etc. and the world’s weather takes place.
16 – 50 km – Stratosphere. This is an ozone layer.
50 – 80 km – Mesosphere, in between layer which is cold.
80km above Thermosphere which is hot

But at 100 km and above there is ionosphere where electrons get separated from atom and these free Electrons allow propagation of electromagnetic waves and radio communication over a long distance.

Our INSAT 2C (Indian National Satellite System) is far above this 100 km layer and its mission is mainly communication.

The applications and usage in communication
Telephone, cell phone, Television, Radio.
MCF – Master control facility.
Tele Medicine Concept.
Video Conferencing
On-line Teaching
Space net configuration

The other usages are:
Satellite aided rescue system
Forest Mapping
Remote sensing
Mapping for Defense and National Security
Historical research
Groundwater prospects
Encroachment spread resoursestat

Now to other relevant and interesting information given by Sri.S.Muthu.

1. The origin of rocket: It is heartening to know that Tippu’s sword was the origin of rocket. The Britishers thought, why not they send a missile through a weapon like Tippu’s sword to attack French army. Then the concept was adopted by French and Germans. When Germany was defeated, Americans abducted all the German scientists to America. Thus the first rocket was designed by a German scientist taken to America.


2. The Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) is located on the geomagnetic equator and hence strategically poised for scientists to conduct atmospheric research. Russia do not have this facility, hence they conduct their research in other countries.

3. India stands seventh in satellite launching, the other six being, Russia, America, France, Japan, Germany and China.

4. The satellite can take a picture from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in 20 minutes.

5. The Moon as a planet receives the rays of Sun like earth. The temperature beneath the surface of moon is cold, around -200 degrees. Hence the solar energy can be preserved as electrical energy at that temperature. A grid around can be formed and energy saved.
He further said, due to global warming of earth, a day may come when people of earth may migrate to other planets. He informed that his book “Bhoomi Thottil” deals with this subject. In his other book “Winnveli 2057”, he said, he has given that children of 2057 will go to moon for their vacation holidays, like today they visit foreign countries.

He also gave a brief note about Chandrayaan -1, how it will take, first elliptical path, leave earth, take again elliptical path around Moon and finally reach after 5 ½ days.

I have left out too technical terms like geo synchronize velocity, sounding rocket, synthetic aperture radar, etc and the chronological statistics about satellite launching in general.

I came to know from News papers/Web sites that Chandrayaan is a Sanskrit word and it means ‘Moon Craft’. Its main mission is high resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging. It will have 11 Payloads (Instruments for experiments), 5 of which designed indigenously.

At this juncture I would like to add that that our Indian ancestors were very much aware of the entire universe and they have accurately studied and recorded the properties of each planet.

Any comment, correction, further information is most welcome.


I am very happy to hear in the morning TV news that Chandrayaan -1 has been launched successfully from Shriharikota despite inclement weather.


Photo 1. Sri. Nellai S.Muthu, courtesy hinduimages web site.
Photo 2. Early days at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station. Readying equipment to be carried by a sounding rocket into the atmosphere are Kalam and R. Aravamudan - courtesy hinduonnet web site

Navarathri - Chennai City Turns Colourful

Chennai city was soaked in festivity all these nine days.

A few scenes of creativity, tradition, divinity and colour are presented.

<-Durga-Kapali Temple Mylapore

Kapali Temple Kolu ->

<-Velliswarn Temple Mylapore Kolu, Velliswaran temple Kurathi dance ->

Mylapore- Trio Mega Kolu - Srivari Bhrahmotsvam Set,
5 Sabhas of Lord Nataraja-Myp Trio ->

<-Sethu Kshethram Kolu, Porur

Annapoorani Sethu Kshethram, Porur ->

<- Madhya Kailash Temple Kolu, Adyar ->

Latha, Adyar

Rama, Thiruvanmiyur ->

<- Srividya, Mylapore

Jaya, T.Nagar ->

<- Exhibition at Karpagambal Kalyana Mantapam, Mylapore ->

<-Dolls Sales, North Mada Street, Mylapore

Gift article Shop, North Mada Street, Mylapore ->