THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ‘kolkali’ performers who reached the Government Central High School in Attakulangara were a disappointed lot as they had to wait for over 12 hours to get on stage. The performance was originally scheduled to start at 9 am at the stage ‘Sabarmathy’. The performers also expressed concern regarding the lack of space available on the stage for performing kolkali, which is performed by 12 participants. “We reached at 7.30 am and got into our costumes.
Much to our dismay we found the stage slippery and lacked space,” said a student. A teacher, who accompanied one of the students, said kolkali players need a bigger area as they have to jump and perform.
Most of the parents as well as students were not informed about the postponement of the event and waited at the venue without going for lunch.
Some of the students also highlighted the use of bigger stages by the organisers for single participant events. “One of the teams which had come from Kallara withdrew from the event,’’ said a performer. However, Anil Venjaramoodu, convener of programme committee, had a different take on the issue. “The performance was delayed due to the complaints of kolkali performers. It will start once the arabanamuttu competition is over,” he said. Delays were reported in other venues too.