TIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The Archives Department has turned to ventriloquism to popularise its Community Archives project. At the Museum campus on Wednesday evening, the ‘monkey’ Kitty will exhort people to support the state government initiative to conserve old documents and palm-leaf manuscripts in private possession.
The ‘Charitra-Paitruka Bhodana Yatra’ was flagged off on Tuesday evening with the first two programmes scheduled to be held in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. The highlight of the ‘Yatra’ is Vinod Naranat, a ventriloquist from Kochi and his puppet ‘Kitty the monkey. Ventriloquism is a stagecraft in which the artist ‘throws’ his voice. A ventriloquist is adept at making people believe the voice is coming from elsewhere. Vinod’s act is famous for the witty dialogues that passes between him and the puppet, Kitty.
On Tuesday, the first event will be held at the Government Women’s College - in the morning - and the second one will be held at the Museum campus in the evening, Archives director J P Biju said. ‘’The show will travel to all 14 districts by March 27. In each district, they will perform in one college and at a public place,’’ Biju said.
The Community Archives project is aimed at appraisal and acquisition of important historical records in the possession of individuals and non-government agencies. Those who wish to donate the documents to the department can do so. Otherwise, the department records it and digitises the document so that it does not get lost forever. Although the project was launched many years ago, the publicity side left a lot to be desired.