I stroll around the temple area this morning. The mercury has gone up quite a bit but the clouds offer some cover.

Chidambaram's temple zone never sleeps. Buses, taxis and vans bring hundreds of people from all over. For many, this is just one of the many stops they will make in Tamil Nadu. Thirunallar will be another. There is also the 'education tour'season, says a hawker of bangles, bindis and ear rings whom we befriended many Natyanjalis ago. This is the time when schools and institutions send their students on what they call study tours but in reality are fun trips.

Day 3 - Inauguration

For dancer Win Thang the trip to Chidambaram was unplanned. A Vietnamese based in France and a student of guru C. V. Chandrasekar, Thang joined the US-based Sonali Skandan who was invited to Chidambaram. She too is a sishya of the same guru and they have been in Chennai to train and learn.

"I am blessed," says Thang when we meet backstage after the duo's recital. Twice blessed perhaps because the duo made the tour of a few other temples which host Natyanjali fests at this time of the year.

Positive is this development - the Natyanjali circuit.

Padma Subrahmanyam has helped develop this in Nagapattinam, Thirunallar and areas around. The Chidambaram people have helped many others. Thiruvaiyaru and Pandanallur now host dance fests. There are a few in Tiruchi district. So when artistes from the north, east and south are willing to perform at one venue, they get invited to the others and this creates a nice circuit!

Maulik Shah, Ahmedabad - Kathak

Maulik Shah, a veteran Kathak artiste from Ahmedabad is on stage. "The first beat takes me closer to God but I have to keep trying to get there," he says as he explains the basics of his dance to a packed audience at the Lord Nataraja temple campus this Wednesday evening.