PALAKKAD : It’s a sultry Thursday morning and a group of female students are taking reels of their mohiniyattam moves on the terracotta-paved verandah of the Kunchan Nambiar Smarakam. In between, they glance into the chairman’s office, where the organisation’s governing body is meeting.
Located in Killikurissimangalam, around 8km from Ottappalam, the memorial was developed with the ancestral home of legendary Malayalam poet Kunchan Nambiar as the focal point.
“We joined the three-year mohiniyattam course of the Kalapeedam in 2020. Even today, we are unsure when our final-year examination will take place,” says one of the students, adding, “Our teachers called it quits in January, as their wages were pending for 16 months. The situation has called into question the future of 195 students studying here.”
The Kalapeedam was started in 2008 as part of the smarakam, which was established in 1976 and is affiliated to the state culture department. The Kalapeedam is today struggling to conduct the four diploma courses it offers – in ottanthullal, mohiniyattam, Carnatic music and mridangam in collaboration with Kerala Kalamandalam – and also pay the wages of its seven teachers – thanks to a cash-crunched state government cutting down on its grants. On January 16, after the governing body missed several deadlines, the teachers and office staff went on strike.
The smarakam had to be closed for a day, for the first time in its history. “It is true that the wages have been pending for a long time. But we are hopeful of clearing the dues soon after the Lok Sabha election,” K Jayadevan, chairman of the smarakam, told TNIE.
“We are also in talks with Kalamandalam authorities to hold the examinations for our students. It is being delayed due to some technical issues and they have assured us it will be sorted out very soon,” he said, without explaining the technicality.
At the same time, authorities are clueless about how to clear the wages. “It is true the smarakam is affiliated to the culture department, which sanctions `5 lakh every year as grant to operate and maintain the smarkaram, pay the allowances of governing body members and wages of two office staff. However, the Kalapeedam was formed by the then governing body and it doesn’t fall under any government department. Over the years, the government regularly sanctioned around `20 lakh a year as additional grant to the smarakam. That amount was used to pay the wages of teachers and stipend of students. Unfortunately, even after repeated requests, we have not received any additional grant in the last two years,” a governing body member said, on condition of anonymity.
Ironically, the same government has sanctioned `1.96 crore for maintenance of the entire memorial complex, with work set to commence in the coming days. At the same time, the monthly `1,500 paid to the family members of Kunchan Nambiar – to light a kedavilakku inside the ancestral home every day – has also been pending for the last one year.