It was a 12 hour-long programme that started at 9 a m with the students’ performances in Carnatic Vocal, Veena, Violin, Flute, Mridangam Western Key Board and Guitar.

Even senior people who learn here performed on the stage. In the evening there was a performance by the Bharatha Natyam sudents.

The valedictory function was held  at 7 pm. Singer Mahathi welcomed the gathering

Actor and dramatist Y Gee Mahendra and  Thanjai Natarajan , Principal, Govt Music College, were the guests who gave away the prizes and certificates to winners of the music competitions and to the academy’s students, who have come out with flying colors in the examination conducted by the Trinity College of London in  keyboard and guitar examinations.

The programme was organised by Thiruvaiyaru P Sekar and  Vasanthi Sekar, and the directors of the academy.

Mahathi Academy is at No 5,Syed Khader Avenue, Venkatesh Nagar Main Road, Virugambakkam. Phones: 2377 2387.

A series of cultural programmes have been lined up by the samajam committee as part of the celebrations.

There will be concerts every evening. The tradition has been to host the mandolin great, U Srinivas on the first evening. This mestro has been following this trend for ages now.

Sept 2 – Mandolin by U Srinivas and U Rajesh,

Sept 3 – vocal music by S Mahathi,

Sept 4 – vocal music by Sriram Gangadharan, Sept 5 – vocal music by Trichur brothers, Srikumar Mohan, Ramkumar Mohan,

Sept 6 – Namasangeerthanam by Udayalur Kalyanarama Bhagavathar, Sept 7 – vocal music by Maharajapuram S Srinivasan,

Sept 8 – Saxophone by G Ramanathan,

Sept 9 – Bharathanatyam by disciples of Veena Ramakrishnan,

Sept 10 – Dance production – Janani Jagath-karini by disciples of guru Sheela Unnikrishnan of ‘Sridevi Nrithyalaya’.

The programmes begin at 7 pm daily at the temple.  Special abhishegams, poojas and laksharchanai are performed every day from Sept 2.

On Sept 11, Vinayaka Chathurthi day, poojas are to be held from morning and run right through the evening, with annadhanam. Then there will be a procession around the colony.
The temple is at 1, Senthil Andavar Street, Dhanalakshmi Colony, Vadapalani. Phone: 23621660.

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Arulmigu Agastheeswarar, Thiripura Sundariudanurai Velveeswarar Temple in Valasarawakkam is ready for the grand Kumbabhishegam. This is to be held on Sept 5, from between 7.45 to 9 30 am.

One of the oldest Sivan temples in the city that has a beautiful and big tank by its side, this is a landmark on the far western end of Arcot Road. The tank has 10 feet of water now following the rains this past month, and it is being cleaned in double haste to look good for the big event.

All the sannidhis have been renovated and painted.

Yaga salai and poojas started from Sept 1.

Shanthi poojas, homams, poornahuthi, kalasa pooja, and anna dhanam has been planned on the kumbabhishegam day, Sept 5, which will be followed by Thirukkalyanam and a procession at 8 pm.

All the work inside the temple, including creation of new sannidhis for Lord Nataraja and Bhairavar.

This project cost about Rs 30 lakhs, and the funds have been sponsored by devotees and philanthropists. The grand event will cost Rs 20lakhs and the funds for this have also been contributed by the public, says Asokan, executive officer  of the temple.

M. Venu Gopal, the man who heads the Kumbhabhishegam Committee is burning the midnight oil to make sure the arrangements are in place.

He has a grand plan – to shower flowers aerially, with a help of a hired helicopter. “The last minute formalities for the process from police and other state agencies are being pursued vigorously,’ he says with a glint of pride.

The respected Swaminatha Sivachariar of Vadapalani, Saligramam temples, will head the rituals. 90 sivacharyas are expected to chant the Veda Goshams on the eventful day.

Foundation stones will be laid on the auspicious day for the two rajagopurams, that have been planned at a later stage, said the EO.

Officer Asokan can be contacted at 98412 54073.

They say the Arcot Road area has mini Kerala colonies all over it. That is true. And so, the spirit of Onam celebratred on Aug. 23 was high in many spots!

K Thamara’s family in Chinmaya Nagar’s Vaikasi Street, had traditional Onam celebrations. Thirukkakarappan idol and a lit Kerala vilakku, decorated the colourful pookalam on the portico, designed by the grand children, Sreeja and Sruthy.

Thamaras settled in Chinmaya Nagar after he retired from Finolex Cables, Pune from a top position. He played a key role in the functioning of the local Keralites’ Maitri Cultural Association for a number of years.

On Onam day, the family played played hosts to Telugu, Maharashtrian, and Hindi speaking family friends, who visited them, and shared the Onasadya. Actor Sathya Prakash’s family members, Vrushali, Shradha were guests too at their home. The children had brought in their friends too, and had a fun time.

Leela Thamara with her rich experience in Kerala recipes, had prepared a wide range of delicacies, supported by daughter in law, Kiran. The spread included, avial, olan, kalan, aviyal, few vegetable poriyal, paruppu thenaipal prathaman, eriseri, a mouth watering sambar in Kerala style, puliinji, nelli pickle, chakkapazham, sweet and karam nendran chips.

Elsewhere, Divya, the popular anchor, host of the Airtel Super Singer show on Vijay TV, and a play back singer, who lives in Dhanalakshmi Colony in Vadapalani, celebrated Onam with her parents, grandparents and aunt’s family.

She had designed a pookalam with help from Prabhakar, her grand dad, a well known person and committee leader of the local Sri Sakthi Vinayakar Bhaktha Samajam, and an active representative of  Kumaran, Dhanalakshmi Colony Residents’ Welfare Association.

Her mother Preethi Vijay and Grandma Nalini Prabhakar had prepared an elaborate Ona Sadhya, and were expecting a lot of relatives and friends for the feast.

Elsewhere,  Sneha and family had a pookalam outside their house in K K Nagar’s Ramaswamy Salai. The neighbour malayali family too joined them in the celebrations. There was a traditionla Onasadya and temple visits too.

A huge pookalam had been designed at Sri Aiyappan Temple in K K Nagar. The atmosphere was festive and colourful, with a large number of local Keralites coming in traditionally clad mundu and veshti, for the special prayers and abishegams.

The full day special poojas were arranged and coordinated by the temple trustees – Bharathan, K K Nair and Vasu.

They create a kolu on themes related to Lord Krishna.

The more common theme has been Krishna Leela.

Dorai says that his family has been creating the kolu for the past 15 years and they invite friends  and neighbours to drop by, enjoy the kolu and imbibe the festival spirit.

This year, the family launched the kolu on August 24. It is open to the public till Sept.3.

The Chomesh family lives at 199, Arcot Road, Block 1, A1, Jains Ashraya Phase 3, Virugambakkam. 09940345654

<< SEND US YOUR PHOTOS!  Arcot Road Times is always open to festival pictures. We invite you to mail us pictures of Vinayaka Chaturthi and of Navaratri celebrations. Take one great, sharp, tight photo, add a caption to it and email it to – acrotroadtimes@gmail.com. We will post it on the web site – www.arcotroadtimes.com. And also use it if space permits in the newspaper!

Well, here is an opportunity for you to donate such goods to a Jumble Sale campaign being organized for a good cause by a respected voluntary organization.

The Vasantha Memorial Trust which is based in Ashok Nagar in Chennai has as its mission to tackle cancer since the year 1993 and has reached support to 500 and more poor and needy who are cancer affected, says Dr.Ramanathan Jayaraman who manages the Trust and is an oncologist too.

Many of these are children with blood cancer.

To reach help to more cancer affected this NGO has been conducting an annual Jumble Sale since the year 2000. With each year the jumble sale has grown big, gathering more number of donors, larger number of goods. Last year, the Trust raised Rs.9 lakhs plus from the sale

This year the Jumble Sale is on 26^th Sept. Volunteers of the NGO are looking for donations of unwanted or reusable household goods for this sale.

Goods like furniture, white goods like rice cookers and microwave sets, suitcases and travel gear, wooden and steel furniture and such items are acceptable.

However, albums and toiletries, dry food and clothes are not accepted since they do not carry much value at sales.

The campaign has begun.

The last date for donation is Sept 10. Donors who desire to donate may contact the Trust. Volunteers can pickup the donated goods from your residences- this will will be done on Sept. 4, 5 & 11.  For more information, call Pradeep on 98940-89379 or 24717871.

Address : Vasantha Memorial Cancer Centre, No. 33, 35^th Street, Opposite JFA Showroom, Ashok Nagar. Ph 24717877, 98940-89370 / 9 .

Some times, 25, some times 50 and some times more.

He has a way of presenting such concerts rather perfectly, creating a brand of music that pleases his rasikas and challenges the sishyas.

This time, to mark the 11^th year of his academy, CARVA which is located on the fringe of Ashok Nagar presents a Violin Ensemble at Mahodaya Hall, 4^th Avenue, Ashok Nagar on Sept. 4, 6 p.m.

The show features concerts by groups of Rajasekar’s students and this ends with 100 violinists on stage.

Violin maestro V S Narasimhan is the chief guest.

This show is also being web cast live via the Net at www.carvatrust.org.

Teams from TN and Kerala took part in this tourney held at the local basketball court.

Ten teams were featured.

The final was between a Chennai Mixed Team and the KV team from Mallapuram, Kerala. The latter won by a slender margin.

This school is located off the Police Training Academy.

Held on August 22 (Sunday) at Hotel Green Park, Vadapalani, ‘Spring into Reading’ of K K Nagar was the organizer.

The events began with a craft workshop using the age-old principles of kolam to create art pieces by Sindhu Suresh

Then followed the more rollicking ‘Bommi & Friends’ show that took people on a tour of the Kodambakkam of old – a show directed by well known story teller Jeeva Raghunath

These two events for children rocked the hall, space that the hotel’s genial senior general manager Krishna Kumar had provided.

Then followed two talks.  The first by V. Sriram on ‘Chennai, the Crazy City’. Sriram is a historian and writer and this talk was light and informative,

The next talk was by Dr. Chitra Madhavan on ‘Temples along the ECR’. Chitra is a researcher and writer and specializes in this subject.

22-08-10 to 31-08-10 daily  at 6.30 pm :  Discourse on Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam by Dr. M.V. Ananthapadmanabhachariyar;

01-09-10 to 05-09-10 daily 6-30 pm: Discourse on Sriman Narayaneeyam by Srivatsa S. Jayarama Sarma ;

06-09-10 to 10th Sept. daily 6-30 pm: Lecture on Bharatham by Smt. Desa Mangayarkarasi