A L L A B O U T M A L A Y A L A M
MALAYALAM is a non profitable, non sectarian, non political socio cultural organisation formed by the Indian community in Ireland in the year 2006.The main objective of the association is to preserve and transmit Indian as well as Kerala cultural heritage in particular, fostering community spirit among the association members, celebrating major festivals of India, providing a forum for members to express and share their cultural talents, promoting friendship and cultural exchange with other organisations and the Irish community and also providing social service to the Indian community at large.
MALAYALAM TO DATE
It is our pride and privilege to mention about the participation of numerous dignitaries and personalities who cooperated with MALAYALAM by sharing the stages at various occasions. Some important names to mention are Sri Vayalar Ravi,the then minister of Overseas Indian affairs Govt of India, the renowned writer and Janpith laureate Padmabhushan MT Vasudevan Nair, the popular poet and writer Professor Madhusoodhanan Nair, great Musicians like Aman Ali Khan and Ayyan Ali Khan, Dr Varsha Agarwal, Stephen Devassi, Balabhaskar, great dancers like Savitha Sasthry, Gopika Varma, play back singers like Ranjini Jose, Sayanora, Nadir Shah, Cine Artists like Padmasri Jayaram, Kunchako Boban, Samrutha Sunil, Meera Nandan and many other versatile artists through the stages of MALAYALAM that includes Surya Music and Dance festivals and a spate of other programmes conducted in Ireland.
Kottaram vilkanundu was a mega show that MALAYALAM conducted in 2012.Its by far the biggest programme conducted in Ireland by any association of the Indian Diaspora by any standards, be it grandeur or footfall. We had in excess of 100 people to perform the various programmes which included drama, different types of Indian dance and songs. Meticulous organisation and planning went into this programme. It was definitely Malayalam’s first flagship programme. It took place at the prestigious Victory Centre in Dublin. We had an audience of more than 1000 people which definitely surpassed every ones expectations. The major highlight of this programme is that a programme of this stature was executed utilising all the Indian talent within Ireland. It also pointed out the enormity of talent that we have within Ireland and kudos to all the people that participated.
We take great pride in being able to make certain programmes a permanent yearly fixture in our calender.One of which is the annual quiz competition for children under the age of 18.This programme needs particular emphasis as its one programme conducted by Malayalam to incorporate almost all children in Ireland. It’s a quiz competition that’s professional in every sense of the word. A quiz competition that involves different rounds and includes audio visual round too. We always have a number of people burning the midnight oil and working behind the scenes in all the departments to make this programme a success. The biggest challenge for us is to make this programme different every year with different questions to avoid monotony and we have been successfull in this. The ever increasing numbers of kids participating every year is a bearing to our success.MALAYALAM pays particular importance to programmes that involves the sharing of knowledge as its vital to the growing up of every child.
Arangu 2014 has been the first of our Arangu series of Mega events. Arangu is a mega show that we intend to have as a regular fixture every year. We intend to bring a prominent Personality from the Indian soil to perform here in Ireland every year in 2014, we brought popular Play back singer Sithara Krishnakumar and she performed at the Phibblestown Community centre in Blanchardstown. She was also supported by all the local singers in Ireland to make the programme a great success. Discussions about the modus operandi of Arangu 2015 is going on at the moment.
Kerala Piravi celebrations is one other programme that we have been conducting and celebrating without fail on a yearly basis. The programme is rife with cultural programmes along with discussions on various topical issues that we face in Kerala today. Most parents are eager to participate in this programme as it’s a reminder to our little ones about the birth of our own state Kerala. We never forget to mention its history, from its very humble beginnings to being a vibrant economic power it is now.
Vidyarambham is a programme that MALAYALAM has been doing every year for a number of years now. With the ever increasing number of Indian babies born in Ireland, the demand for this traditional function has been increasing exponentially. The first Personality brought down for this event was renowned writer Padmabhushan MT Vasudevan Nair. The touchdown of the creator of Randamoozham into the land of the creator of Ulysses, James Joyce was celebrated with great fanfare. Fans and admires from all parts of Ireland flocked to see and interact with the celebrity writer a chance anybody would not get otherwise. A record number of children took part in the Vidyarambham programme. In the years that followed, we had other celebrities like Dr Madhusoodhanan Nair, Dr Raveendranath Thambi, Dr MayaDevi Kurup,popular Malayalam Poet and cine artist Balachandran Chullikadu etc.On this day we also incorporate a merit evening which is an award ceremony for meritorious students who has excelled in the leaving cert exams.Momentos are given as prizes to the respective students.This is mainly done as part of MALAYALAMs ethos to support budding talents.
Onam and Christmas Celebrations need not be over emphasised. This is an annual event everyone children and adults alike wait for and is celebrated fully with its full ambience. Onam celebrations complete with the traditional athapoo and sadya and the famous vadamvali. Cultural programmes with the participation of children of all ages exhibiting their various talents have a hit among children. Christmas celebration with the full Christmas carol and Santa Claus hasn’t been more enjoyable. Again cultural programmes to show case the talents of all children and parents alike would be a major highlight.
Conducting debates and discussions is also a forte of MALAYALAM. A number of debates have been conducted to increase awareness. The first discussion worth mentioning was conducted in Bray when the language Malayalam got classical status. The major take away from this discussion was that the malayalee children of Ireland not giving due importance to the learning of Malayalam as a language and the dearth of Malayalam classes to teach them. This was taken on board and MALAYALAM has decided to conduct such classes for the benefit of all Malayalee children and the first Malayalam class was conducted in Bray last week. This will definitely help all children,as its vital that every Indian learn their mother tongue. Another debate worth mentioning was done just prior to the same sex marriage referendum held on May 22nd.Even though we had great supporters for both sides, a lot of vital information came out from the debate. More debates would be conducted in the near future.
Another important project taken up by MALAYALAM is of litererary importance.The launch of our own magazine KANAVU.We give this project paramount importance as MALAYALAM gives utmost respect to the process of gaining knowledge and fully falls under our ethos.We intent to launch this project as soon as possible.Work behind the scenes are in progress.Talented adults and children within Ireland will be given a chance to display their literary skills.Prominent and well known writers from Kerala will also share the writing space. Articles, poems, travelogues and also cartoons will fill the pages.Our own Padmabhushan MT Vasudevan Nair will make a contribution.There will be over a thousand copies in print and will be distributed to all the corners of Ireland. All associations representing the Indian diaspora will be giving us a helping hand to get the magazine far and wide. As we envisage a huge readership we would also be selling advertising space to cover our basic costs. The details are hereby attached.
These are a birds eye view of some of the programmes conducted by MALAYALAM over the years. The viability of new programmes that is within the framework of MALAYALAMs ethos is always discussed at the committee meetings. We would continue to endeavour to conduct programmes to foster the Indian cultural heritage tirelessly as we firmly believe that the future lies in the hands of our children.