Stills from dance festival began in Kozhikode on Feb 28

Photos by Rakesh
Stills from the dance festival `Soundharyalahari' began at the Gujarathi Hall in Kozhikode February 28. The Delhi based troupe performed the cosmic dance of siva on the inaugural day.

Seeking liberation through words

When I went, Jecintha Joseph, the novelist who had eloped from the literary field after penning down down 55-novels in Malayalam was busy shifting to a new house at East Hill in Kozhikode. She answered the repeated sounds of the calling bell with a smile on her face . ``Just come in, I was waiting for you,'' she said. As I accompanies her to the living room, she informed that she will be shifting to her new house at East Hill on next day.

The novelist was living with her daughter in Kozhikode for the past two-and-half years. She moved from Kollam to Kozhikode when her daughter Anju secured admission at the East Hill Government Engineering College. ``I come along with Anju as I couldn't sleep even a single night without her,'' she said out of motherly affection. Besides, she wanted loneliness to concentrate fully on writing since she is planning for a come back to the literary field after a long break.

The 52-year-old novelist, who started writing at the age of twelve believes life is all about love and helping others in need, has penned down 55-novels, 125-short stories, 25-screenplays and seven radio dramas so far. She even wrote a script for a drama.

She wrote majority of her works before getting married to Telesco of Kollam in 1987. She was very much active in the field till her marriage. Gradually lack of interest from her husband detached her from the world of words which she loved more than her life.

``At times I found it even difficult to take breath,'' said Jecintha in a low voice.

Though she feels the personal turmoil played a villain in her writing profession, she never let others know about it. Her smile which resembles that of a child helped her bury everything deep inside her heart.

She had also won numerous awards including Nana award for her screenplay ``Theeram thedunna Thiragal''.

The writer who is longing for a come back has written a screenplay for film and talks are on which can't be discussed at this stage, she replied to an answer about my question on present projects. She said she is planning to write a novel on Kozhikode. ``I like the city and the people very much,'' she quipped. Well she is even have a dream of directing a movie, she said.

Jecintha who consider writer Kakkanadan as her mentor said she will write an autobiography. ``I believe honesty of writer and I want to say the truth,'' she said.

Lessons from experiences

The recently held 50th edition of state school youth festival in the district has certainly showed how to report an event without knowing even ABCD of it. Luckily in our office the practice of assiging duty for reporters is not there. The worst were the Journos in Malayalam newspapers. They didn't had even time to study the items before reporting. We ourself picked the dance and music items we liked the most to cover. So I took the events in which I had knowledge and staged during my school days. So that there wont be much problem for it. But still love for Ottamthulal made me to opt for that event. I have watched Ottamthullal only on DD. Well, my decision of cover Ottamthulal had proved heavily for me due to the language problem . Sheer facination for the art form and confidence in me made me to take an extreme step of attempt to write about the event.
I rarely speaks with journos in other Media as I always fear that they might take my words in wrong way after hearing my Malayalam language. I was born and brought up in Kasargod where we use the medium of local Malayalam language for communication. That too rarely. Plus my parents and most of our family members were studied in Kannada medium. And whoever we communicate using either Kannada or the Tulu language. So I hardly made any effort to improve or understand the original Malayalam language.
As you know, Ottamthullal popularly known as the `Poor man's Kathakali' has a single actor, donning a green make-up and wearing colouful costumes. The artists recites the Thullal lyrics while acting and dancing himself on stage. For me it was difficult one as they never gave introduction for the performance they going to enact on the stage. My very little knowledge in Malayalam made me difficult even to follow the reciting of songs even after I went there to report the event after thorough preparation. Somehow I managed to write and I even wrote a feature on Kalamandalam Geethanandan who had trained more than 500 students to reach the state school youth festival for the New Indian Express special pull out.
Well, that day I decided to learn the Malayalam language in depth. Hmmm, experience in life make us learn and grow.

Stage is set for the annual cultural extravaganza

Kozhikode `the city of truth' is known for its love for art and culture . This year too the annual cultural festival will be held like earlier but with a difference. This year, the denizens and lovers of art will get an opportunity to see the stunning performance of some of the big names in the Indian Entertainment industry in the 2010 edition of the Malabar Mahotsavom.

The six-day cultural extravaganza will be inaugurated by the Union Minister for Tourism Kumari Selija at the Beach Open air stage on February 9. The annual cultural extravaganza organised to revive the Indian dance culture will be held in the seven venues of the city from February 9 to 14th.

The inaugural function will be followed by the performance of noted Bharatanatyam dancer Malika Sarabhai. The art lovers will get an opportunity to watch the breath taking performance of the some of the best artists including Malayalm playback singer K J Yesudas, pop singer Daler Mehandi, bharatanatyam exponent Malika Sarabhai, Ghazal mastero Talat Aziz and many others. The Delhi based rock band Euphoria troupe will also enthrall the audience with thier hit numbers.

The six-day gala event will be staged in seven venues including Mananchira, Town hall, Commonwealth ground, Jaya auditorium, Marine ground and stadium. The martial art form and folk art forms will be staged at the Mananchira ground. Artists form Karnataka, Assam, Karnataka, Rajasthan and West Bengal will enthrall the spectators with their traditional folk dance.

In Town hall, literary festival will be held from Feb 10 to 13 evening 5 pm to 7 pm and drama festival will be held from 7 pm to 10 pm.The classical dance and carnatic music concert will be staged at Jaya auditorium.

Another attraction of the festival will be the exhibitions organised in the stadium premises. Around 100-stalls will be erected at the exhibition venue. The stalls of Agriculture department, Sericulture, animal husbandry, dairy development and fisheries department will put up their stalls in the exhibition. A food festival showcasing the malabar cuisines will also be held at the Marine ground during the Malabar mahotsavam.

So why thinking much, just borad in to the next train or bus to watch the stunning performace of your favourite artist:)

Hi everyone

This is my third blog created exclusively to write the happenings in an around the city. The blog will give a glimps of the important events here. The stories which interest me will also find its place here.