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Monday, October 3, 2016

The Doll Street of Mylapore in Chennai

A small but prominent neighbourhood in Chennai wears different colours during different occasions. Every month from January to December is a celebration or the other in this part of the city. If it is not a temple event, it is a scene of seasonal vegetables or marketplace of knick-knacks.

In September-October, it is the season of Navaratri and an entire stretch along the side of the temple tank here turns into a Doll Street. Navaratri or Dussehra is celebrated in different forms across India and in Tamil Nadu, setting up of dolls and images of Gods and natural elements is customary in many homes during this time.

The preparations for the festival begin weeks in advance. The artisans from nearby villages make a beeline to the city bringing along the dolls colourfully painted up. The spots along the street are unofficially reserved by these artisans and they make these spots their home for a month.

Though there are a couple of such spots - West Mambalam, Triplicane, Kosapet - Mylapore becomes a bigger hub with more number of stalls set up across the northern side of the Kapalesswarar temple tank.

A walk down the stretch is worth an evening and never forget to carry your best camera lenses. If you start a conversation with the sellers, you would get to hear a few mythological stories too!



Some dolls come in sets. They may be a set of 8 Lakshmi dolls or 6 Karthikeya dolls or a set of many dolls that depict a story.


A set of dolls - Bakasura, a demon who demanded a lot of food from the king as depicted in the epic, Mahabharata.


Sometimes the dolls are very topical too. This year, there is this image of India's former President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, who was also an inspiring scientist.


When you walk down further along the street, there are shops that sell return gifts for the visitors to your home during Navaratri. These stores also have items for decorating the kolu, the display of dolls in steps.


Different types of fragrant flowers strung in different patterns could be seen on the same street.


This is how the kolu in our home looks like. There are elaborate ones in other homes and this is might be one of the simpler kolus!


The shopkeeper couple that sells pulses is a must to be kept in kolus.

If if you are in Chennai now, Mylapore is the place to visit.