Explore Mylai through treasure hunt...... An energising experience during the Mylapore festival 2009

Arrival of January earmarks the arrival of Mylapore festival too! The great weather of Chennai is silver lined by the native festivities all over the winter season. This year is not an exception. Inspite of the dreaded R....... the sponsorship for these regular festivals seems to be undeterred.

Thanks to Sundaram Group for sponsoring the Mylai fest.
Being a hard core north chennaite, what am I doing in Mylai festival? north or south, mylai or parrys corner, a Chennaite is a Chennaite, no boundaries to scale and explore the city in whatever name, north or south, Chennai is the best !

Being a lawyer, I have an affinity towards Mylapore, the native mylaporeans proudly claim it as My Law pore.

True, Mylapore is adorned with lawyers on one side and musicians on the other side. Now you know my connection with Mylapore, yes...... being a lawyer, I claim to be a part of My "law" pore. I shared a work place at Mylapore with my associates, thanks to Sangeetha and her father, because of them I happened to visit Mylai often and be a part of many of the best times of Mylapore. And I am one of the many "rasikas" of the carnatic music and claims connection with my law pore.. err….. Mylapore

Stop being nostalgic .. said to my self, and coming back to 2009 Mylai fest,
The mylai fest is embedded with lots of competitions for various age groups and interests. Ranging from the traditional "Kolam" competition to latest"you tube" video contest. Its just thrilling combination of competitions conducted with its true spirit.

The best part is the festival is not restricted to Mylapore, it is open for all, so no remorses for the other Chennaites.

My personal favourites in Mylapore festival are the Treasure Hunt and the Mylapore quiz besides the traditional competitions.

This year the treasure hunt was held on 18th January. It is an awesome experience to explore the Mylapore in its length and breadth and crack the clues. Good work from the research team of the Mylapore festival, the clues were thoughtfully prepared giving no room for googling / justdialling. For cracking the clues, one must get in to the place by carefully reading the clues and hints and give an answer. Further the clues are not stand alones, each clue is connected with the next one ( some thing like an "Andadhi"). Hence there is no room for short cuts.

We are a team of 3 muskeeters, My friends collected the form and I joined them to find out the clues. We could not crack it initially. However, over a period of time we picked up speed. Thanks to our Auto driver Mr. Bose, who also enthusiastically shared his topographical knowledge of Mylapore in cracking the clues.

The treasure hunt journey was filled with thrills, twists, turns and happy roller coaster moments. The time given was from 7 am to 9.15 am. It was a nail biting finish, where at 9 am we were in spot 14 ( Kutcheri Road) and still 3 more to be found. Thanks to the free sunday roads, our treasure hunt was not hunted down by traffic or red signals. Finally at 9.12 we just ran into the Nageswara Rao park to hand over the filled in answer sheets. Before handing over the answer sheets, our exam genes suggested for last minute check up and corrections. Finally we handed over the paper exactly at 9.15 and breathed easy. The results would be open next week.

For us it was an enjoyable and thrilling 2 hours. During the course of the hunt, we met people, including couple of tv persona and celebrities, had a quick chat and touched by their warmth in helping finding answers, posed for photographs, etc.

Previously I have surpassed lot of places of Mylapore without knowledge about its background, historty, etc. The treasure hunt is an effort to understand history of a famous part of Chennai with its true heritage and culture.

Alright, my short festival holidays coming to a close with the crowning glory of treasure hunt @ Mylai festival. Got to catch up work tomorrow morning. see you soon with more posts :)