Alleppey is the Venice of India. Its myriad waterways have created a unique natural character which makes it a hot tourist destination.

But on this Deepavali weekend the tourists are few in number. Indians must be celebrating at home and the adventurous may have been dampened by the tragedy in another tourist hot spot - Thekkady where a boat with 80 tourists capsized and 40 people died.

I am in Alleppey on the festival weekend but my destination is Harippad. Classical music rasikas of this region have been hosting here an aradhana and music fest for many years (since 2003) in connection with Skanda Shasti celebrations at the famed Sri Siva Subramania Swami Temple here. In some ways, this seems to be a unique event.

A 50-minute bus ride from Alleppey takes you to Harippad on NH47 that runs all the way to Thiruvananthapuram. Harippad is a small town. A polka dot like many other towns in Kerala. Farmers, teachers and government staff dominate this place.

Srikumar is my host here. He works for the state government. Srikumar says classical music rasikas got together to form TRAMS, the Travancore Music Society. Besides hosting this annual fest it also promotes local events and arranges arts classes for children.

The famed temple is 2 kms away from the centre of the town and attracts a steady stream of pilgrims and townsfolk. But by 8 p.m. as the town shuts down this stream also dries up.

Tonight, the wooden frames around the temple are filled with lit, earthen oil lamps creating an ethereal scene. A UNESCO-sponsored film team is on location to shoot a Kodiyettam performance later that night at the grand old koothambalam inside the temple premises.

It is well past midnight when the Kalamandalam artistes are ready for the recital and rather late to sit through it because we need to be up at 6 a.m. for the start of the music fest.

Bathing in the tank, nadaswaram music in the mandapam

The venue for the recitals is the covered space outside the main gate of the temple. Artistes perform on a stage, facing the main shrine.

Anil Kumar and his associates launch with the traditional nadaswaram as the first lot of local people head to the shrine to offer prayers and a few others step into the huge temple tank to wash themselves clean.

The fest runs for five days and recitals are held non-stop every day, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Every evening, the final concert features a senior artiste.

Music students, some as young as ten-year-olds are invited to offer their musical prayers and they do it happily though their voices have to rise above the roar of motor traffic since the main road that takes to you the popular Mannarsala Temple, 2 kms away runs close to the temple ( this is said to be the destination for devotees of the serpent god).

Platform for local musicians, youngsters

I am introduced to Krishnan Nambudhiri, a senior mirdangam artiste and guru who hails from Cheppad. Krishnan teaches at a local academy and performs across the state. He says the Harippad region boasts of fifty musicians and they get invited to perform at temple fests and at social functions.

Akila, Anaka, Aruna and Sanjeev are among the juniors who perform on day one. Their parents, relatives and friends make up the audience. The kutcheris go on on one side, the flow of pilgrims rises and ebbs on the other. Krishnan says that such fests provide platforms for music students and so coaxing them to attend is easy.

TRAMS pools its resources, scanty as they are to host the aradhana. At lunch time we head to a dining hall inside the temple campus where a retired school Head Master and TRAMS member supervises the cooks and helpers. To partake of a simple meal of rice, sambhar, rasam and vegetables.

The recitals carry on - by now even the relatives of the artistes are distracted and chit chat. Tourist vans drive in in a frenzy, empty the pilgrims and park themselves in the yard. The recitals get fleeting glances from those who are headed to the shrine.

Two big concerts are lined up for the evening on day one. One by the veteran vocalist Pattam P. K. Saraswathy who has a deep, booming voice and holds her own at the recital. The accompanists are Chertala Rajendran on the violin, Srikant Nambudhiri on the mirdangam, Prajit Kumar on ghatam and Chettikulankara Mohanan on the tabla.

At 7.30 p.m., the Bhava Raga Tala Laya Sangamam group takes the stage. This is to be a vina-venu-violin tala vadya concert.

The group leader is vina artiste Maya Varma. From her body language you know Maya is in charge and when she peforms she gestures like a rock musician - tossing her head, waving her hand, moving her body . . .

Alongside her, Vivek Shenoy plays the flute, Thrikuditanam Sriraj plays the violin, M. S. Raju plays the mirdangam, S. R. Sekar the ghatam, Srikumar the kanjira, Chengannur Jomon the tabla and Chempakulam Subash the morsing.

A tad loud, the group does attract the temple-goers and passersby. Even their attendance cannot push the strength to 200 people. The numbers though do not matter, the spirit does.

The temple environs are quiet at 9 p.m. The recitals of Day One are over. The fest ends with a grand aradhana on the final day when, in the morning artistes and rasikas sit together to sing the pancharatna kritis.

You can contact TRAMS' Srikumar at 0-93881 19802. Their web site - www.tramsindia.org

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