CHENNAI: Urbane children were awe-struck strolling through the miniature set-up at the ninth edition of the Hindu Spiritual Fair organised by the Hindu Spiritual Service Foundation and the Initiative for Moral and Cultural Foundation.
The footfall at the fair, rose sharply on Friday, owing to the public holiday. Children who would otherwise be at school, were learning about rural households at the fair.Two miniature villages, one by a Siddha camp and the other by a private media company, attracted tens of children who walked around huts, bulls and wells. At the Go Rakshana Samiti (Cow protection centre) in one of the villages, two bulls, two cows and a calf were assembled, and visitors could pay to feed the animals fodder of their choice.
At the patio of one of the huts, traditional board games such as ‘Pallanguzhi’, ‘Dhayapas’ and ‘Paramapatham’ were kept for children to learn the games. The kitchens were also equipped with ‘ammikal’, ‘kalloral’ and other traditional cooking gears.
Children even learnt to draw water using a pulley from two mini-wells at the site. “We wanted to teach children, how our ancestors used to live like,” said one of the organisers.
Not very far from the villages, a stall was blaring with music from manifold instruments. The “Tamil Isai Karuvigal” stall had Thakkai, Kokkarai, Thuthiri, Kottu, Kuzhal, Tharai, Sangu, Tiruchinnam, Kombu and other instruments used traditionally by Tamil musicians during festival times.
The demonstrators at the stall taught children how to use these instruments. “I have never seen traditional instruments in my life. I wanted to go for drums class, but now I think I will learn Kottu melam instead,” said Nishant Barath, an eight-year-old.
Traditional board games
At the patio of one of the huts, traditional board games such as ‘Pallanguzhi’, ‘Dhayapas’ and ‘Paramapatham’ were kept for children to learn the games. The kitchens were also equipped with ‘ammikal’, ‘kalloral’ and other traditional cooking gears.