A take on South Indians

The Indian Students' Association at my University held their Cultural Night a week back and a group of South Indian boys took it on themselves to perform the traditional dance item of "Tirikutu Naach". Now anyone who is not a South Indian or does not follow the culture closely, will have no idea what it all means.

To start, South Indians originate from the south of India which  is almost 20% of India. Now the only thing that South Indians are famously known for is their food. People from all over the world have a taste for South Indian food with South Indian restaurants visible almost in all corners of the world. 

South Indian food.

Most South Indians are bound to be of more of a dark complexion. It is usually quite easy to figure out if a person is South Indian by their funny nature and loud voices. 

Group of South Indian boys.

The South Indian culture has four different languages that can be spoke; namely Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. 

Another thing that South Indians are known for is being religious. Apart from being religious, South Indians can portray some of their religious stories through dances like Bharatanatyam, a dance usually performed by females and is world famous, and then you have the "Tirikutu Naach", a dance very famous in Fiji and is  performed by males who dress up like females.

Bharatanatyam dancers.

The "Tirikutu Naach" is usually a dance that can tell people different stories about Kings and Queens. There is one "Mantri", someone who dresses up somewhat like a clown whose job is to keep the audience entertained throughout the dance.

The "Mantri" in action at the Cultural Night.

Performing such a dance require thorough preparation as there is a need to know the dance moves, the hymns that are supposed to be sung, the make and clothing for those members who are to show cast the different Goddesses and the most important thing is of knowing what particular story to tell the audience and the way it has to be told. 

Now this brings me back to the Cultural Night that was organised at the University with a group of boys opting to perform a "Tirikutu Naach".  

The group chose to depict a short story whereby four queens decide to go play outside.

The queens in action.

Dressing up.

Getting dressed was quite the scene but watching the so-called queens dance was something else altogether.

Dressing up.

It was really amazing to see the way in which this group of boys managed to pull off the performance with relative ease and the fact that they still have their cultural values still intact.  

The group after their performance.