The children of Karimadom’s Chenda Arangettam

Trivandrum Don Bosco Society has been working for the upliftment of children and marginalised communities for the past 28 years. They added a new rhythm to their work and the lives of eleven children from Karimadom colony through their Jeevithathaalam initiative, which provides free Chenda  classes in association with MARGI Thiruvananthapuram.

Those children from Karimadom colony with an interest in learning Chenda were given free classes under the guidance of Shri. Kalamandalam Krishnadas, the head of the Chenda segment of MARGI, a Kathakali-Koodiyatam troupe.  They have been training in the basics  and the progressive Chenda beats of Panjari for the past one year.

The objectives of the Jeevithathaalam initiative are  many: to promote the practice of folk arts such as Chenda melam among  children; to develop their personalities and  promote character formation; the formation of a Chenda troupe by the trained children  to empower them by offering an alternate source of income to improve their living standards; to ensure the holistic development of the children from Karimadom colony through art and education to provide wholesome, viable alternatives that discourage anti-social activities.

The debut performance (Arangettam) by these eleven children being trained in Panjari was held on Friday, 20^th September, at 5:30 pm at Theerthapadha Mandapam, East Fort. It was inaugurated by Shri. Adv. V.K. Prasanth, the honourable mayor of Thiruvananthapuram. Fr. Thomas P.D, Director of Don Bosco Veedu Society delivered the welcome address; followed by the felicitation by Fr. Joy Nedumparambil (Director, BREADS Bangalore) and Fr. Stephen Mukkatil. After the public meeting, the children delighted the audience with their debut performance of Panjari under the leadership of their teacher, Shri. Kalamandalam Krishnadas.