NISHAGANDHI MUSIC AND DANCE FESTVAL

Nishagandhi Festival

The curtain raise of this year’s Nishagandhi festival is going to be held on 20th January 2007 in Nishagandhi open air auditorium in the Kanakakunnu Palace Compound, near the Museum, Trivandrum, the Capital city of Kerala. The coming seven enchanting evenings, Renowned and Leading exponents will perform Indian Classical dance and music and other folk forms. Artist and connoisseurs of dance and music from all over India come to enjoy this cultural treat. The festival is organised by Kerala Tourism Development Corporation. Year after year this festival is becoming more prestigious, renowned artists are urged to participate in this cultural event. The beautiful Nishagandhi open air auditorium used to stage a lot of art forms and cultural meets. It provides enchanting moments of India's rich classical dance and musical heritage.

The specialty of this time event includes Ghazal evening of Usthad Pankaj Udhas on the closing day, carnatic music enrichment by Sri. T.V sankaranaraynan and wonderful performance on Saxophone by Kadri Gopalnath in music while Madhavi Mudgal presents odissi dance, Vyjayanthi Kashi in Manipuri dance, Priti Patel in Manipuri and C.V. Chandrasekhar in Bharathanatyam. Also there will be rising performances of several upcoming artists.

A fusion item of Vidwan Mattannoor Sankarankutty in Chenda and Sri. Balabhaskar in Violin is on 24th at 8.00 pm. Apart from these, a flower festival is also organised on all the days while an array of ethnic crafts and exotic cuisine from all over the country. So come to Nishagandhi and enjoy the cultural extravaganza.

Major Programme

Jan 20: 6.50 PM Special Choreography
7.15 pm Mohiniyattom (Dr. Neena Prasad and Troupe)

Jan 21: 6.45pm Odissi (Madhavi Mudgal and Troupe)
8.00 pm Bharatanatyam, N. Srikanth & Aswathi Sreekanth

Jan 22: 6.45 pm Carnatic Music (T.V. Sankara Narayan)

Jan 23: 6.45 pm Kuchipudi (Vyjayanthi Kashi and Troupe)
8.00 pm Manipuri (Preethi Mehrotra and Troupe)

Jan 24: 6.45 pm Bharatanatyam (Prof. C.V. Chandrasekhar & Troupe)
Fusion Music (Balabhaskar & Mattannor Sankarankutty)

Jan 25: 6.45 pm Saxophone (Kadri Gopalnath)
8.00 pm Kathak (Debasree Bhattacharya,

Vikram Iyengar and Troupe)

To get the venue:

About 6 km from Trivandrum International airport.

Thiruvananthapuram is connected with train services to all major cities in India. Nishagandhi is about 3 km from Railway Station, Thampanoor

A lot of bus services are available from Thampanoor Bus Stand and East Fort Bus Stand

“DOSAI” , THE SOUTH INDIAN BREAK FAST FOOD FROM KERALA, THE GOD’S OWN COUNTRY.

Dosa or Dosai or Dossa is a highly popular fat free hot item in South Indian break fast dishes. Behind the name Dosa, there is an interesting fact. Dosa means “Dthoh” (means “2” in hindi, Indian National Launguage) Sssszzzzzzzzzz…., a sizzling noise make while pouring the batter (“maavu” in malayalam regional language) over the hot Tawa or Fry pan or griddle and the other one noise when turn it over during the preparation. Pour 1/2 cup of batter over the pan into a thin round pastry. Pour 1 teaspoon of melted butter around it and another teaspoon of melted butter on top. When bubbles appear on top of the batter, about 2 minutes after being poured, turn it over. When both sides become golden brown, remove from griddle and serve hot. Good to eat with coconut “chutney” and “sambar”. The batter consist of rice and urad dhal (white lentils) or Uzhunnu. The batter made of Ponni Idli rice and the white Urud dall are the best for dosai preparation. Various items of dosai include Plain Dosai, Egg Dosai, Sada Dosai, Onion Dosai, Rava Dosai, Masal Dosai etc.

Kerala is very much famous for its Thattu-Dosa, means Dosa service on road-side and footpath. It is a beautiful scenario that the people from different quarters irrespective of men or women are seen enjoying this delicious food on roadside without any feeling of complex. They are pleasantly mingling with the inconvenience in the open space, where they have no chairs to sit on or dishes to hold on. Once thattu-dosa was the food of poor and Thattukada a place of slum. Now the things changed and gave way for the new trend. It is the Thattukada which is the only place where we can see the real human in us who regardless of big or small takes in tasty dosa, Ressa Vada etc with cheap and nominal price. Don’t forget to taste this delicious food while your journey in South India, especially in Kerala, the God’s Own Country.