And on the last two days, devotees had a special treat seeing Sri Karpagam going round the inner precints of the temple in her stately golden chariot! Folk festivalThe folk arts were presented every evening, in and around the Rasi quadrangle, with artistes even moving around the streets.Handicraft BazaarOff East Mada Street hand-crafted items from Tamilnadu, Kerala and Andhra, and Rajasthan were sold attracting visitors.Vintage Cinema

This was an extremely popular programme presented by Vintage Heritage. On all four days, there were vintage movies at the halls of P. S. Hig. Sec. School presented by historian Randor Guy, to a discerning crowd. The uncut version of Chandralekha wowed audiences, and MGR's Marmayogi earned whistles and claps with each dialogue.Artists cornerPeople enjoyed having their faces reproduced for them by the artists, and kids loved the fun painting contests, organised by Chitra Ragulan of Palazzo Art Gallery.

Even though the venue changed from the original place, it was a huge success.Bala Utsav The Bala Utsav , two day-long performances by children, at the Dakshinamurthy Auditorium at P. S. High. Sec. School , was organised by by Surendranath, Amarnath and Aparna of the Sri Sumukhi Rajasekharan Memorial Foundation. And Kreeda the organisation for reviving traditional games will display the games, was there too, to demonstrate and organise games. Tamil Literary Corner Writer Charukesi of Devan Endowments organised a Tamil Litereaty corner, in which important writers like Sa. Kandaswamy, Dilip Kumar, Sujatha Vijayaragahavan and Balakumaran participated. Media personalities like Baskar Sakthi , dialogue writer of TV serial Meti Oli, and director Vasanth also participated. The meet was held in the open yard of the Narayanaswamys house on Sundareswarar Street. Balakumaran appreciated the idea of such a literary meet at the festival. Prizes, sponsored by Devan Endowments, were given to the winners of the short story contest run by Mylapore Times. (The stories will be published shorly in the Mylapore Times).

The judges felt that none of the stories qualified for a first prize.Kolam On Sunday, the last day of the festival, 200 women in the morning and 200 in the evening drew beautiful traditional kolams on North Mada Street, displaying all their creative skills. Renowned dancer Sudharani Raghupathy was the judge in the morning, and cartoonist Aras, who is well-known as an illustrator also, was the judge in the evening. People were overawed by the carpet of kolams.Heritage rideLong before the women gathered at the venue of the kolam contest, 12 cycle rickshaw were transporting interested tourists and locals on a three hour heritage tour of Mylapore. It is a fact that you can view better from the high perch of the open rickshaw than the auto. TalksS. Muthiah, historian and columnist, gave an informative talk on the heritage of Mylapore, and Santhome, narrating the historical links with Portugal the French and the British.

This was followed by a chat show type talk by media personality Revathy Sankaran, who charmed women with her talk on traditions and values that should not di out.and made them promise to grow their hair and eschew western wear. "Come to the kolam contest next year in pavadai davani" said she. The Madras Quiz This was an immensely popular programme conducted by Gopal Kidao and Dr. Praveen of Quizzicians(Chk. Spelling) Out of the 200 teams registered, six qualified and answered questions on Madras. The R. K. Swamy Auditorium at Sivaswamy Kalalaya was bursting at the seams.Fun corners for womenThis was a corner that attracted women for some fun contests like sweet pongal, pot painting and jewel designing. Women enthiusiastically participated. Morning ragasAway from the early morning margazhi bustle of the temple, at Nageswarara Rao park, youngsters sang, sans mikes and sans lights. They attracted the early morning walkers in the park, without disturbing the soothing ambience of the park.Food But the food section outdid everything in popularity. People thronged to taste the delicacies prepared by catering specialist Subham Ganesan and his troupe - adai eriseri, besarat dosa wrapped around a generous helping of rava upma, dosa, vadas everything.

And degree coffee. Dip Icecreams and chats from Shiva Woodlands were welcomed by kids.Shopping festivalShoppers freaked out at the discounts offered at shops for the festival And the slogan contest was a huge success.The Treasure Hunt, sponsored by Rex Fashions, enticed adventurous shoppers.The Main showsThese shows started every evening outside the Rasi quadrangle, on the 16 kal mandapam.

The very first show with young children, trained by Sulochana Pattabhiraman, singing the Pancharathna krithis of Sri Thyagaraja, stole the hearts of everyone present. Folk shows like Therukoothu, thol paavai, koothu by children, Kokkalikattai, Periamelam, Pralayan's street play, Vintage film music in Hindi and Tamil, Crazy Mohan's rib-tickling 'Jurassic Baby', followed on following days.Underarm tennisball cricket How could the small players of the neigbourhood be ignored? There was a friendly cricket match played with tennis balls, for the youngsters of the neighbourhood on the bed of the ChitrakulamFireworks The grand finale of fireworks in the sky was a sparkiling show on the last day at 10 pm, presented by Standard Fire Works, Sivakasi.