Of festivals, fairs and frivolosities.

When you have just one day at your own disposal (I meant Sunday :) ) and it so happens that there are lots of fairs happening across the city, what would you do? Attend all!! I did the same yesterday. First went to Mylapore festival, then off to Karpagambal Mess and then to the Book Fair (India International Book Fair 2006, to be more precise).

Mylapore reminds me of my younger days in school (kindergarden and first two levels of schooling). Kapaleeshwarar temple's Theppa KuLLam (Temple tank which hosts Theppam or water car during temple festivals) is jiving with water, thanks to the monsoon that lashed Chennai a few weeks back. Mylapore is a city within a city, boasts of mylaporeans who lead a very traditional lifestyle, yet embrace contemporary options when it comes to studies and work. The Subramaniams and Parthasarathys of Mylapore roam across the world and bring laurels to this microcosmic city within city! Mylapore festival predominantly tries to showcase these aspects of Mylapore and has been a growing success over the past few years. This year, I think it is better than the last. A quiz on TamilNadu, Drawing competition which was hosted on the steps of the Theppa KuLLAm (what a picturesque location!), Coffee festival, traditional food festival, an entire street of Mada (Maada Veedhi) dedicated to Kolams, what more do we need?!!!, the Mylapore admirers?!! I am just waiting for the temple car festival which is held around March every year.

Not to forget Kalathi Kadai (name of a shop in Mylapore famous for their Rose milk) and Karpagambal Mess (An old-style eatery which serves hot south indian delicacies at very affordable prices). One could always spot a few foreigners dining in Karpagambal Mess, after having read about it or heard from fellow South Indians in their country!! Their evening snacks are a big hit amoong the Mylaporeans. Savour it for yourself for sure when you step in Mylapore next time.

My next stop was The Book Fair. My friend remarked if so many people had turned into "Puthaga PuzhukkaLL" (Book worms) after seeing literally thousand of people flocking into the book fair grounds. At first thought, I presumed everyone had ended up there with no other place to go and just for fun. But, I could spot almost everyone buying some books. This year's big hits were Ponniyin Selvan, APJ's books and self-development books as almost every other shop sold them. I had an impulsive thought to buy almost any good book that I saw, which I had to resist. "Good books are Good Friends" (heard somewhere) but when I am hungry I cannot read a book (says me :) )

Cheers! Let us all live in peace!!