Kids celebrate community Pongal festival

Reported by Nandini with the help of Keerthana and Shruthi.

Pongala, as they call it, is a festival for kids and by the kids to celebrate and cherish the culture and tradition of South India.

At the quiet Damodaramoorthy Road in Kilpauk.

The fest organisers Keerthi, a student of Maharishi Vidhyashram , and Apoorva, a student of Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram were busy planning and preparing for the much awaited fest by all the residents of the area.

Between a busy schedule of school and extra curricular activities the two sacrificed their free play time to put their heads together for two weeks.

Volunteers were invited to design and decorate the handmade posters and décor.

The posters of brown paper were decked with intricate kolams, sketched by Nandhini’s mother and block printed by Viroshini, Keerthi, Apoorva and Shruthi. They also gift wrapped the prizes and gifts with newspapers with block prints.

The festival was spread across three days.
On day one, a Kathadi Designing Contest was held. Kites were decorated beautifully; sequins, art and block printing – the kites looked very beautiful.

There was also a Scarecrow making Contest. The scarecrows were built with scraps, clothes and one even had makeup!

Day two was the day of Bhogi.
Late evening a Bhogi fire was lit and the girls ran around the fire while the boys were busy with their Bhogi drums.

The girls danced to the kummi and sang folk songs. The schedule of the events was announced by the organisers to the beats of the bhogi drum.

The day of Pongal was the day of Pongala!

On that day all the girls and boys of the neighbourhood took part in the Rangoli Contest. The road looked colourful with different styles of rangoli designs.

The much awaited Pongalo Pongal a variety show began at around 5.30 pm. This was the finale to the three days of celebrations at the Pongala Fest.
The show began with a classical recital of the Pushpanjali wherein the dancers thanked the Almighty by offering flowers. This dance was performed by trained classical dancers Apoorva and Rithika (disciples of guru Urmila Satyanarayanan) followed by a carnatic vocal presentation by Nandhini who is also a student of Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidhyashram.

Kallaripayattu to the drum beats of Kerala was the presentation of Kerala martial art form showcased by Thanu of  Sherwood Hall,  Abhishek of  Bhavans Rajaji Vidyashram and Keerthi and Thansi, both from Sherwood Hall.

The highlight of the show puliyattam performed by Vishal and Sacchit the two ‘tigers’ of our street captured the attention of the audience.

This dance was a comedy entertainer; the episode of two tiger cubs who eventually become friends.

Folk dance and Kummi were performed by the class 10 and 12th girls of our street; this was a last minute entry as these girls choreographed the dances overnight.

The Song of Pongala Fest, a foot tapping folk song sung by the kids was the last program of the variety show.

The most important event for which all the kids were eagerly awaiting was the Uriyadi the traditional game played during the pongal festival was enjoyed thoroughly by kids and adults.

All the participants were given gifts and winners of the kite making competition, scarecrow making contests and rangoli competition were given art kits as prizes.

The grand fest ended with National anthem and a loud cry of Ponglo Pongal!