சென்னை சத்தமம், I mean சென்னை சங்கமம்

With this காணும் பொங்கல் day today, this year's edition of சென்னை சங்கமம் is coming to a close.

This annual event which is the brainchild of the present Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Dr. Kalaignar Karunanidhi, is purportedly meant to bring the village culture to the urban masses of Chennai.

I can think of only 2 reasons why he came up with this event:
1. To siphon off Government's money into his family coffers
2. He got irked with the Carnatic Music festival season in December at Chennai and wanted to divert some attention here

One of the many venues for this event is the Elliots Beach at Besant Nagar. Apparently a stage has been setup at the skating rink and the cultural events are taking place there.

Since we Tamil folks equate good sound quality to loud sound, somehow a lot of sound manages to reach even my house which is around 2 blocks from the beach. The noise starts around 6 in the evening and goes on till 9.

And as part of the grand finale today, there has been a massive fireworks display for the past 20 minutes. Needless to say, this was not a tastefully done display. It has just been one blast after another for the last 20 minutes and there was not even a simple pattern like - all the sparking ones first, all the white ones next, then bunching the blue ones or the green ones etc. And honestly, I haven't heard such loud fireworks. The decibel level was definitely more than what one experiences during Deepavali.

Anyways, since today is the last day I am happy that this year's edition of Chennai Sangamam has come to an end. I hope the control of the State Government comes to ADMK as early as possible, because the political vendetta between DMK and ADMK would not permit them to continue with this event.

P.S.: Since when did a fireworks display become part of Tamil village culture?