~~Memories:Exclusive Kathakali Show~~

When I was Cochin people used ask me have I been to a Kathakali show ,I will give a prompt answer I havent gone to a Bharatanatyam show when I was in Tamilnadu. But in the back of the mind I was waiting for an opportunity to see it.

Many weekends in Cochin we have played host to friends,relatives, friend's relatives, parents, parent's friends and so on.Once we were even hosting one of our friend's sister who had come for her honeymoon(that's another story not here). Most of them would have come for a break from their hectic schedule and we had to plan an itinerary for them and act as their tour guide. For them Cochin would be a tourist spot, within minutes after reaching there they will be attracted to the place and start blabbering how lucky we are to be working there. Heyyyyyyy I m deviating from the topic.

OK one weekend my college mate Ravi and his friend came to Cochin. As usual we took them to our usual places like fort Cochin, Matancherry etc. When it was time for dinner we went a hotel Bharat tourist home.One poster outside caught our attention 'Kathakali show at 8' which was happening the next day.We enquired about about it and learnt that the entry ticket costs 200 rs which includes the dinner,fair enough.Since we never knew when we will get an opportunity like this we planned to come back to the same place same time the next day. We also learnt that some foreigners are visiting the next day and the show is planned for them.


Next day after having a wonderful time at Athirampalli falls we reached the hotel by 7 in evening.We planned to have dinner first and by the time we finished it will be right time for the show. Dinner was awesome worth the money and we were leisurely eating, taking our own time.Suddenly one of the waiters came near me and said 'Please eat soon sir, the artists are waiting for you'! When my gang heard this they started laughing and they were not ready to leave until they have their dessert.After little frisking I took them to the hall were the show was to happen.ALAS there was not a single person in that hall.We came to know that the group of foreigners who were supposed to come for the show did not turn up and we were the only audience there.I felt sorry for the artists and felt little guilty for making the artists wait for us.

We told the manager that we were an amateur lot of audience, he said not to worry as the show was planned for new audience we can understand easily. What a show it turned to be, they started with demo one person describing what is Kathakali about and another enacting it.They went on to describe/act few basic movements like rotation of eyes,movement of head etc. Then came show they enacted Shiva kalyanam which had three parts.The movements, expressions in their faces wonderful it was and we never knew how time flew away.Once the show was over we went to the stage to congratulate the artist.Since we were the only people there we asked many questions for which they patiently replied. Finally we asked for a picture and too each one of us taking an individual photograph with the artist.



This is one of the pictures which I will always cherish ,bringing back the good times I had in God's own country. That time ,I uploaded this as my orkut profile picture trumpeting to all my friends that I have attended a Kathakali show.