The Malayalee Club, Chennai, founded in 1897 under the patronage of the Royal Houses of Travancore, Kochi & Kozhikode

On Looking Back At The Centenary Celebrations

The Malayalee Club, Chennai, entered its hundredth year in 1996. It was decided to celebrate the Centenary year in a befitting manner, and accordingly, a Centenary Celebrations Committee was formed with Mr. Gokulam Gopalan as Chairman. This Committee decided that the Celebrations would last a little over a year, from August 1996, and conclude by December 31, 1997.

Centenary Celebrations Committee held its first meeting on 6.3.96, a plan of action was formulated to organise and hold a variety of programmes under its cultural, literary, sports, and social wings. Towards implementing these programmes, separate sub-committees too were formed - like Sports, Literary, Souvenir Hospitality, Publicity, Social Service and Entertainment.

On looking back on the conclusion of the celebrations over the past 16 months, the committee is left with no doubt that they have been extremely successful. The programmes which were of a myriad nature might fade away from one's memory ere long; however, the celebrations leave two monumental activities which would help members nourish and cherish the Club's achievements. They are the Centenary Air Conditioned Conference Hall for which the work started on 1.12.97 and the Satabdi Smaranika (Centenary Souvenir) which is being released on the occasion of the valedictory function. The successful conclusion of the celebrations owes much to the assistance and co-operation extended by friends and well-wishers of the Club who include both individuals and organisations/institutions. The programmes, in a nutshell, had variety and novelty and were uniformly of a very high standard.

Now, to begin at the beginning.

The day chosen for the inauguration of the centenary celebrations was August 18, 1996. And the time 11 a.m. The Chief Guest of the grand occasion was the then Chief Election Commissioner, Mr. T.N.Seshan, who entered the hall on the dot. He inaugurated the celebrations by lighting the traditional lamp. Felicitations were offered by Mr. P.C. Cyriac, I.A.S., Secretary, Industry, Government of Tamil Nadu, Mr. M.P Purushothaman, President. FAIMA, Mr. Balakrishnan Mangad, Senior Correspondent, Malayala Manorama, and -Chakyar" Rajan of Bombay. the cultural programme on the inauguration day received benediction at the hands of Mr. A.C. Shanmuga Das, Minister for Health, Government of Kerala. Then there was a full-length Bharatha Natyam recital by the well-known film actress, Shobhana. Reminiscent of the early years of the club when it organised cultural programmes mainly to celebrate ONAM and VISHU. Onam day (August 25, 97) saw the annual Onam feast with a larger number of members and their guests and special invitees enjoying the fare served to them. It was a joyous get-together. The entertainment part of Onam festivities came off two days later, on August 27, when `Pradakshinam', a ballet produced and directed by Mrs. Kala Sasikumar, and a satirical farce called "Nambolan" written and directed by Dr. P Balakrishnan were presented.

A veritable parade of folk dances and songs of Kerala was the programme for September'96. Presented on 22nd were Theyyam, Ottan Thullal, Thiruvathirakkali, Maargam Kali, Thacholikkali, Kolkali, Thayampaka and Oppana. That was a feast to the eyes and ears, so to say. On October 13, a long-time member of the Club, Mr. V Abdulla was felicitated on his receiving the prestigious YATRA award for his several translations of well-known works in Malayalam. On the same occasion, there was a symposium on Trends in Translation when some ten speakers enumerated their experience in the field of translations. They represented such languages as Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Punjabi, Kannada, Konkani, Gujarathi, Sanskrit, and Hindi. A light music concert by the one and only K.J. Yesudas was the much-awaited programme in October (27th) at Kamaraj Memorial Auditorium in Teynampet. Children's Day was by then nearing, & the Club conducted various competitions for the children of members. To mark the centenary, an inter-school shuttle badminton tournament was held on November 9.

The popular Malayalam film star, Jayaram, was the Chief Guest at the Children's Day Celebrations on November 14. The third programme in November was a Kathakali performance by the famous P.S.V.Natya Sangham from Kottakkal. The story was Dakshayagam. There were three activities in December, too. On December 1, the Kottakkal 1 troupe presented Bali Vijayam. The occasion was taken advantage of for felicitating the well-known Kathakali exponent, Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair. The annual Blood Donation camp was organised on December 22. The Christmas celebrations on December 25 were, as usual, an occasion for merry-making, especially for the children of the club and their parents.

It was only beloving of the club to remember some of the "Long-standing" 1 members (25 plus years) and their association with the club. On January 5, 1997, all 105 members were felicitated & adorned by a medallion gracefully tied in a ribbon. Each and every one of them was cheered by the audience, who gave a big hand to Mr. Kannankutty Menon whose membership spous more then 70 years - a unique record for any club. The Club also honoured those members of the staff who had put in long years of service. This was followed by light music presented by the playback singers Krishnachandran, Sunanda, and Vallathol Rajendran. The 5-day Drishyotsav - a drama competition at all-India-level-was a major programme in January. Held from the 11th to the 15th, it was sponsored by the MEDIMIX group of Companies Chennai. The participating troupes were Satkala from Kozhikode, Madras Kerala Samajam, Ponniyam Kaladhara of Thalassery, Kaliyuga Theatres from Chennai, and Swaram from Trivandrum. The Drama "Mera Bharat Mahan" directed by V.P.Ramachandran for Kaliyuga Theatres was adjudged the best.

On February 1 and 2, the Ladies Wing of the Club celebrated its 27th anniversary. On the first day, a cultural programme was gone through. It included a farce "Paying Guest" written and directed by Dr. PBalakrishnan. On the second day, a Carnival of food and games called FUNFEST was organised. There was also a colourful Theme FASHION SHOW. The STARNITE filled for February 9 was undoubtedly the piece de resistance of the centenary celebrations. Leading Film personalities of Malayalam and Tamil like Mohanlal, Urvasi, Manorama, K.PUmmer, Srividya, Meena, Kasturi, Sangeetha, Vineeth Devan, Ambika, Unni Menon, Chitra, Sujatha, Radha Ravi, G.Venkateswaran, Major Sundararajan, Hariharan, T.K.Oomana, Pratap Pothan, I.V.Sasi, and Manohar were felicitated and honoured with attractive members. The Drama awards were distributed on the occasion. The function comes to a close with a Jugalbandhi by the Chenda expert Pallavur Appu Marar and the Drums maestro Sivamani.

"Nrithatharangini" presented by the Dhananjayan couple and troupe was the main attraction on March (23rd).

The 2 day "Swati Smrithi" was yet another major programme of the Centenary celebrations, when Maharajah Swati Thirunal was remembered on his birth anniversary with a music and dance festival. Her Highness Karthika Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi, Maharani of Travancore, graced the occasion and inaugurated the festival. The speakers were the doyen of Carnatic Music Dr.Semmangudi R. Srinivasa Iyer, Mr. T.S.Parthasarthy, a well-known musicologist, and Mr. H.V.hande, former Minister of Tamil Nadu. The cultural programme began with a Kaikottikkali in which the composition of Swati Thirunal was used. This was followed by a music recital by a member of the Travancore Royal family His Highness Aswati Thirunal Rama Varma and with a Mohiniyattam by Bharati Shivaji. the evening's programme came to an end. Earlier, prizes were distributed to the winners in the music competition for children and grown-ups.

On April 6, the programme started with group singing of Swati Thirunal compositions, titled Manjusha. This was followed by a symposium on the many-faceted personality of Swati Thirunal. The speakers were Mr. M.A.Vellodi, who had retired from the Indian Foreign Service, Mr. K.S.Mahadevan, Prof. E.K.Purushothama, and Mr. V.V.Subramanian. They were introduced by Mr. K. Ramakrishnan. This was followed by a music concert by T.V. Gopalakrishnan and his disciples, who rendered some of the rare compositions of the Maharajah. In the evening there were brief recitals by P.Sridevi and K.PLakshmi, followed by a concert by P.Unnikrishnan and a Bharatnatyam performance by Revathi Suresh Menon and troupe.

On April 20, "Chakyar" Rajan of Bombay performed Chakyarkoothu. A k..1 Variety of dances called WE-FO-CAL was presented by Madhu Menon and party on May 18. On June 1, Nallatil Balakrishnan and party from Pallassana, Palghat, presented "Kanyarkali". On June 22, the members of the club staged a Malayalam farce "O.C.Nair" directed by Dr. Balakrishnan. The Club presented the Sanskrit play "Abhijnana Shankutalam" put on bounds by Samskrita Ranga of Chennai, headed by Mrs. Nandini Ramani.

On August 7, there was a Centenary-inter-club shuttle Badminton Tournament, in which 6 clubs took part.

On August 15, 16, and 17 the club celebrated the Golden Jubilee of Indian Independence. The programme started with the hoisting of the national flag at the club's premises when the national anthem and national song were sung in chorus. A sapling "Tree of Unity" was planted on the occasion to mark the occasion in the presence of representatives of various cultural organisations in Chennai. The main function of the day had Dr. Kurien, Chairman of the National Dairy Development Corporation, as the Chief Guest. His contribution towards the success of the Co-operative movement in India was recalled and he was suitably honoured with a memento. The meeting also paid tributes to the freedom fighters, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and V.K.Krishna Menon. The speakers were Mr.K.P.Misra, President Utkal Association, Mr. M.A.Vellodi, IFS (Retd.), D.Basu, Secretary Bengal Association G.Shantaram Rai Secretary Karkataka Sanga. In the evening T.V.Gopalakrishnan and party presented "Bharatha Darsanam" or music of Harmony.

On August 16, the club organised an exhibition and sale of handicrafts from various states of India, which was inaugurated by Dr. T.Lokhananda Sarma of the Handicrafts Council in Chennai. In the evening there was a Food Fair where dishes from different regions were served to the enthusiastic crowd of Connoisseurs.

The Kavi Sammelanam on August 17 was presided by Mr. Abdulla. A dozen poets recited their special compositions in different languages. An English rendering of each poem was given on the spot, which was a novelty. In the afternoon, a Quiz on India was conducted for children. The noted industrialist of Chennai, Mr.T.T. Vasu, who is also the President of the Music Academy, was the Chief Guest at the Cultural programme in the evening.

September 14 was Onam day. The programme included a Ballet'Kairali', Kolkali by menfolk, a magic show by Prof. Sukumaran, a comedy "Toosi Pocker" directed by Dr. P Balakrishnan. The Onam Feast was organised earlier on September 12 which was joined by as many as 700 members and guests.

On October 2, Trissur Naseer and party presented " Super Mimix "- a mimicry show. On October 12, there was Padakam recital by Kalamandalam Sivan Namboodiri and Ottan Thullal by Kalamandalam Geethanandan and party. The stories chosen were Panchali Swayamvaram and Kalyana Saugandhikam respectively.

The Chief Guest was Sri. N.N. Thalappil, who handed the prizes won in the various competitions conducted for children - sports, painting and drawing, elocution, essay-writing, fancy dress, music, drama etc. Curtain come down on the Centenary celebrations on November 14 when Children's Day was observed. The day belonged to the children of the club members and some young 'Guests' from outside the club.

On behalf of the Centenary Celebrations Committee, we would like to record our gratitude and thanks to those who associated with the grand success of the entire programmes.

K.V.Nair Convenor

Gokulam Gopalan Chairman

Centenary Celebration Committee