The East Coast Road is a great temptation. You can drive down at 120 kmph starting from Madras and enjoy the ride. Our destination is Chidambaram. The event. The 22nd edition of one of India's best known dance festivals. Natyanjali.

Break at Mamallapuram for sappadu. Swing past the rock-cut edifices and invite yourself to Pondicherry. Maybe a glass of beer as the sun goes down. Or a walk down the promenade along the seashore, and then, you negotiate the rough roads from Cuddalore and the chemicals that some of the factories here spew out.

The countryside is still green and lush, though the Cauvery and its sisters are almost dry. The state has had a bad monsoon season late last year and you may see less smiling faces at the local markets.

Chidambaram is still very dusty, and dirty too. The local civic body shows little interest in the tourist potential of the place. Everyday, dozens of buses offload their travellers, at the street that leads to the eastern gopuram, the first that was built at this 11th century Saivite shrine.

This time around, advocate Sambandam, the Secretary of the Natyanjali Trust and the livewire organiser, has an invitation to be at the opening evening of a similar Natyanjali in Kumbakonam.

Yes, there are little Natyanjalis now hosted in many Thanjavur temples and motivating the hosts has been dancer Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam. And the hosts at Chidambaram. This is a two-hour drive and when we arrive at the Sri Kumbeshwarar Temple, the outer yard of the shrine is packed and an elephant seems to be enjoying all the attention it gets.

The stage is set against the backdrop of the tall gopuram and if the organisers can do away with the loud décor usually reserved for wedding receptions, the atmosphere would be inspiring. Something that Mohiniattam dancer from Madras, Gopika Varma agrees with. And so do the genial organisers. There is time only to sit through two short recitals before we are invited to a chathram for tiffin. Surely, the Natyanjali hospitality is generous!

Back in Chidambaram and it is close to midnight. The stage is half done. The cracks on the cemented stage have to be filled up and because of a tight budget and fewer donors, the hosts recycle last year's stage décor and trim the wild shrubbery behind it to provide a natural backdrop.

The 22nd edition opens on time. The early evening slots are reserved for junior dancers, mostly sishyas from the academies in interior Tamil Nadu. They may get less than 20 minutes but the opportunity to dance inside the Lord Nataraja Temple does overwhelm some of them.

As these dancers walk down the street to head for the stage, women from the town draw kolams as part of a daily contest that is encouraged to lend a festive spirit to the festival. It is Sivaratri evening. The rasikas file in, though the stream heading to the sanctum of the temple increases as the night sets in.

The Sathialingams from Singapore are here with their sishyas. The duo used to study at Kalakshetra in Madras in Rukmini Devi's time. And Sathialingam recalls the occasions when, as students of Kalakshetra, they danced inside the temple. Colourful memories.

Well known dancer Padma Subrahmanyam visits the temple. In her costume. She also says hello to the organisers of the Natyanjali. Why didn't Padma dance at the Natyanjali this year? Tamil newspapers feature a story the next morning. Even this aside makes good copy for editors. How they wish they had more celebrities dropping by.

The World Cup cricket match is on. The hotel where many dancers are accommodated has a special offer at its bar. That evening India and Pakistan are battling it out and the bar has one hundred people crammed inside. And the contest does keep many families indoors. The police officer manning the Public Relations Booth gets regular updates on the score on his wireless. Inside, after the formal inauguration of the Natyanjali, Urmila Satyanarayanan takes the stage. Pakistan has scored 272 runs. India begins to bat. And Sachin Tendulkar is on fire, slamming the fastest bowler, Shoaib Akthar.

Cricket wins over Urmila. We get back to the stage to see dancer (also guru) A. Lakshman and his French and Japanese sishyas perform. Suddenly, crackers go up all around us. India has won the match. There are celebrations on the street. Youth on cycles zipping up and down with the Indian tri-colour flying high.

What a celebration on Sivaratri night as more dancers take the stage.

We move inside the temple as people snatch forty winks before the religious services begin all over again. Young Dhikshitar priests join local musicians to sing. The atmosphere is infectious. We slump down on the cold floor and take in the atmosphere.

Outside, the recitals go on. It is 2 am. This year, the hosts of Natyanjali have decided to let the dancers perform into the next morning. When the final recital is over it is about 6 am. By that time, we are in bed.

Summer is severe in these parts. The dust engulfs you every time a moffusil bus zips down Chidambaram's streets. The temple is still the best refuge. And if you are a foodie you wish you got hungry many times a day! Head Cook Vageesan has been serving the artistes and Natyanjali guests at a local chathram built by a benevolent Chettiar, for a decade now. The menu changes everyday. Brinji, payasam, chappatis, vattal kozhumbu, tomato pickle. . . The hospitality is at its best. So is the co-ordination.

The Natyanjali Trust chief advocate A. K. Natarajan and his team, all dressed in clean and starched khadi cotton, are always on their toes.

They are all prominent citizens who also wield a lot of clout. And they are great hosts. Senior dancer and teacher C. V. Chandrashekar takes the stage on Day Two prime time. He must be in his 70s. Or close to that. But his mastery on stage stuns people. This year, we also witness many male dancers though the sabhas in Madras continue to crib - that male dancers hardly attract rasikas! Surely dancers like Lakshman and Srikanth will not agree with that!

Srikanth hops across after dancing at Thanjavur and taking part in a Kumbakonam recital. He does the nattuvangam for Vijay Madhavan's troupe one night. . Madras Doordarshan's evergreen newsreader, Shobana Ravi, is here. Her daughter Madhumathi is a Odissi dancer, a sishya of the well known Kshama Rao. And she performs that evening.

This time around, the invites went out to young artistes and those who are based far beyond Madras. It was a good idea. Natyanjali must provide space for artistes from all over. This is one way of making it well known in north India where the Khajuraho and Konark dance festivals have an aura of their own.

Day Two fades out at about 1.30 am. And dancer Zakir Hussain is simply dejected to see just 50 people sitting in front of the stage. But the numbers don't matter. The occasion does. And Lavanya Raghuraman, who is based in Singapore and a student of the Dhananjayans appreciates the invite she received. Shantha Dhananjayan performs the nattuvangam. And sits through as the students of the Dhananjayans' academy, called Bhaaskara, in Kerala's hills, take the stage. As ever, their costumes are so pleasant to the eye.

That evening the applause though is for the Manipuri dancers who cannot be separated from the poong drums, which look like mridangams. Their acrobatic dances wow the audience. Thanks to the support from the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, this troupe provides a special flavour to the festival.

Next day, the attendance is high for the Yakshagana Mandali led by Sangeet Natak awardee Shambu Hegde. Their colourful costumes and subtle abhinaya are a treat for people who have never seen Yakshagana. Thanks to some careful planning, the troupe travels to other towns in this area.

There are two ways to seek diversion in Chidambaram. Set off on a temple tour that takes you to Sirkazhi and to the Vaitheeswaran temple, or head for the seaside mangroves of Pitchavaram. Dancer Lakshman and his foreign sishyas opt for the latter and we join them. The boatride is relaxing but we are rewarded with sunburn!

Another Japanese dancer Yamiko Tamaka, a Kalakshetra alumni, and her students, take part in the festival. To see her perform, her guru N. S. Jayalakshmi drives down from Madras after attending a lecture-demo on Kalakshetra's dance dramas in connection with the centenary celebrations of Rukmini Devi Arundale.

There are no chairs or sofas for VIPs at this festival. Everybody sits on the sandy ground. Occasionally, the sharp thorns of dry fruits fallen off the trees in the yard, pierce your soles. Even this discomfort found a mention in the local Tamil newspapers!

Roja Kannan is back at the Natyanjali. And this time she has her guru Adyar K. Lakshmanan to lead the musicians. Then follows Chitra Visweswaran in a passionate performance. Husband R. Visweswaran heads the musicians in the flanks. The dance feature that her students stage next, captivates the audience. They love stories. And they like this one too.

It is well past midnight on Day Five when young dancers of Chidambaram finish the very last performance. We sight the eastern gopuram bathed in floodlights. Maybe, next year, this could be the backdrop? Time to catch up with some sleep.

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