Chithirai Thiruvizha is an annual celebration in the city of Madurai during the month of April which is the Tamil month of Chithirai. The first 15 days of the festival mark the celebrations of the coronation of Goddess Meenakshi and her marriage with Lord Sundareswarar. The next 15 days mark the celebrations of the journey of Lord Azhagar from Kallazhagar temple in Alagar Koyil to Madurai. 

The city of Lancaster turned to the city of Madurai, on Saturday the April 28, 2018 with the celebration of Chithirai Vizha by New England Tamil Sangam (NETS).  The evening was a pompous festival, a soul driven temple kumbabishekham and resembled a family united wedding celebration. Altogether it was a complete transformation for the NETS and its dedicated team comprising of the Executive Committee and social coordinators raising the expectations of the audience to a Himalayan peak.   

NETs during this festival brought in the most popular Tamil folk songs to Boston. I had the privilege of introducing and welcoming our evening’s celebrities Thiru. Pushpavanam Kuppusamy and his evergreen beautiful wife Smt. Anita Kuppusamy.  Thiru. Pushpavanam Kuppusamy is a Tamil folk singer, playback singer, lyricist, writer and music composer of Naatupura Paatu a Tamil folk art. Together with his wife, he has conducted several music concerts and brought out several albums of Tamil folk songs. He is a recipient of Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu. He studied music at Madras University and gained M.A., M. Phil., Ph.,D.,in music. Chennai Sathyabama University gave him the Honorary Doctorate for his contribution to music.

The decorations at the entire reception, photo booth, stage, podium, dias and props were done by NETS Volunteers, NETS Social coordinators and family members.   Each section was adorned by kancheevaram sarees, dance costume fans, kolams, traditional decorated pots, garlands and thorans bringing the air of Tamil culture and traditions throughout the venue.  The stage setting was transformed into a village, incorporating a magnificent wooden horse, a cow, huts, fields and a poster of the saving Village God. Heartiest congratulations to the Social coordinators who planned and executed the celebrations themselves, and heartfelt thanks to Thiru. Balasubramani Sankarraj, his wife Smt. Lakshmi, NETS volunteer Smt. Renuka, and Thiru. Suresh Krishnan for his wooden horse.

Thanks to our treasurer, Thiru. Ram Sundaram and his entire dedicated family who handled the tickets and reception throughout the entire evening coordinating the brochures, tickets, and trophies very well.

The event commenced with Thamizh Thai Vazhthu. This was followed by a welcome address by our president Thiru. Manohar Ganapathy. Hats off to NETS committee for unique idea in bringing the celebrities to create this event as legendary as possible.  

The program continued with Thirukkural Songs by Sishu Bharathy Students. Special thanks to our Social coordinator Thiru. Karthi Arunachalam for Emcee and Thiru. Balasubramani Sankarraj for music co-ordination.  Children adorned the stage with Tamil cinema songs in the folk style and the competition was judged by our celebrities.  Hearty congratulations to all the winners.

The couple are truly blessed to share their beautiful talent of singing the folk songs together as Manmanakkum Makkal Isai.  They rocked the stage with their scintillating voice taking turns and in a duet. The song on Rain, Rooster, Bullock Cart, the Village God and Riddles made the audience to clap to their heart’s content. Pushpavanam sir has the divine bronze voice of the late play back singer Thiru. T.M. Soundarajan. He brought into the audience everlasting memories of late Thiru. Sivaji Ganesan by singing “Vasantha mullai polle Vandhu”, “Pavadai Dhavaniyil” and “Ennadi Rakkama”. When he sang the Ennadi Rakkama, I turned to see empty seats in the whole auditorium. All the guests including children, ladies, gentlemen and the grandparents were all dancing adorning the front of the stage. The evening was further adorned when 40 children performed a Tamil Folk song on stage that they had learnt within an hour from Pushpavanam Sir, the previous day in a workshop. We can’t thank these celebrities enough for making this such a memorable evening for the New England community.

Thanks to our secretary Thiru. Shanthi Sundaramurthy for introducing the musicians and vote of thanks. Shanthi takes a tremendous effort in encouraging the vendors for clothes and jewels who entertain and make our guests happy during the break time. NETS truly thank and appreciates your continuous support. Thanks to Thiru. Prabu Ram for handling event day logistics and Thiru. Senthilraja Ramasamy and Thiru. Karthi Arunachalam for undertook registration and backstage event planning prior to the event.

With our hearts filled with great joy after the terrific music blast of Tamil folk songs, it was time to feed the guests with a sumptuous meal. Thanks to Dosa Temple for their delicious dinner and a huge round of applause to our Food committee social coordinators Thiru. Prabhu Ram, Thiru. Guru Krishnamoorthi, Thiru. Karthikeyan Krishnamurthy and Thiru. Suresh Krishnan. These men along with few college and high school kids served dinner endlessly sacrificing their enjoyment in the auditorium. Our sincere thanks to Thiru. Krish Velmurugan, Krisp Photos our social coordinator for handling the photo booth and videography.

Special thanks to our event sponsors Mr. Matt Johnson and Mr. James Aldo, New York Life insurances, Agama Infotech and Sankara Healthcare foundation Inc. NETS also extend its heartfelt thanks to all the adult and youth volunteers. The list will not be complete if I don’t mention Thiru. Raj Velmurugan, from our advisory committee, who was so committed to help us out with the decorations and every segment of the evening. You are a true inspiration to the new comers of our committee.

We would like to extend our invitation for our next upcoming NETs Picnic in August 2018 and NETS Children’s festival in November 2018.  Stay tuned! Vaazhga Thamizh!!

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