Where night owls roost
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Once the day draws to an end and the sun sets, Manaveeyam Veedhi — the iconic art and cultural space where Kerala will launch its first nightlife project — comes alive with captivating music, street performances, and people vibing and having a jolly good time. Live events and performances by youngsters make the evenings in the capital more interesting than ever. Though the official launch of the ‘nightlife’ project is yet to happen, scores of people irrespective of age group hang out in the one-and-only cultural corridor in the state.
“Manaveeyam Veedhi is an emotion for many aspiring and young artists like me. I have been active in this space for the past five years,” says 26-year-old Vipin Raj, a professional percussionist and a techie. “We formed the band Voice of Manaveeyam (VoM) a year ago, and all eight members of the band met here at Manaveeyam. We were all strangers, but music and this cultural space brought us together. We jam here and play for the crowd,” Vipin explains. He believes the introduction of nightlife is encouraging many artists to come out and perform at Manaveeyam nowadays.
“Multiple events happen during weekends. Different genres of music are being performed, and the response from the crowd is overwhelming. People gather around performers, applauding and encouraging them. Teenagers and youngsters come with flutes, guitars, and other musical instruments. Now that nightlife is being introduced, we all can perform without any restriction until morning,” he adds.
The street which never sleeps is already attracting visitors from other districts and far-off places, says an official associated with the project. The authorities have also decided to ban traffic in the corridor from 7.30 pm to 5 am to facilitate nightlife.“During weekends, the footfall is over 5,000, and once it’s launched, it will go up further,” says the official.
The city corporation, jointly with the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) has decided to launch an online portal to register for various events that will be held at the cultural corridor. However, the decision to hold commercial events hasn’t gone down well with the groups, who have been organising cultural programmes at Manaveeyam Veedhi for the past two decades.
Parking crisis looms large
Ever since the opening of the redeveloped Manaveeyam Veedhi, the area has been witnessing heavy traffic, especially the Vellayambalam-Althara-Vazhuthacaud stretch. Due to curbside parking and an unscientific signal system at Vellayambalam junction (which is turned off often and managed manually by the traffic police), the situation has worsened in the stretch causing heavy congestion. Lack of parking is already a major challenge in the area because of the nearby Museum, zoo, Kanakakunnu and Captain Lakshmi Bai Park. With all these spaces being located in close proximity, the nightlife project is likely to add to the woes.
Though the civic authorities tried to talk to the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) and Keltron — the two offices on either side of the Manaveeyam Veedhi — the authorities of both agencies have refused to give their premises for parking after office hours. “We had multiple discussions with them, and they are not ready to open their premises for parking. As nightlife will go on till 5am, they are raising security issues to provide parking inside their premises till morning,” the official added.
‘Don’t commercialise the veedhi’
A regular at Manaveeyam Veedhi, Akhil U R, says most youngsters who visit the space don’t know much about its history. “At present, Manaveeyam is being projected as a space for nightlife. This approach is going to ruin everything,” rues the singer-cum-sound engineer.“There is so much effort and struggle on the part of cultural groups and artists who fought to make this cultural street. Trying to commercialise it will ruin the very concept,” says Akhil, who has been holding performances at Manaveeyam for the past 18 years. The civic body plans to introduce food trucks in the corridor and hold commercial events.
A senior official told TNIE that a standard operating procedure is being prepared for the nightlife project.“When food trucks start functioning, people will come to enjoy the night and food, not the cultural events. We are trying to meet the mayor to explain our concerns,” Akhil says. “This should be a free space where people can come, sit and enjoy the events. We used to have regular theatre performances at Manaveeyam since 2001. I have been active in this space since 2003. We never tried for sponsorships, put up banners, and commercialised our events. We believed that this would ruin the very purpose of it.
Commercial events will be closed and will only shut out the public and other artists,” says Sreenivas V K of Manaveeyam Therukoottam — a cultural group. According to him, commercial events can be held at Kanakakunnu. “Nisagandhi Auditorium is already being used for holding commercial events. So why use the cultural corridor? We are planning to take this up with the authorities,” he adds.