Dakshina Chitra

After reading about this place in many blogs, I thought we should visit it one weekend. Dakshina Chitra or Picture of the South as they call it, is situated right next to MGM Dizee world on the ECR. It is a nice little quaint place that has the various types of houses found within Tamilnadu and also, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhrapradesh. Apart from that, there are some craft shops, a nice amphitheater, some 'learn to paint/stitch/weave' set-ups, lots of trees and open space to generally walk around.

By reading through the various placards we came to know that some of the traditional houses they had there, were authentic stuff from villages and how it had been transported and preserved to serve as a model.

There were lots of small playthings on sale at each of the model houses. At one of them was the Bambaram! When I saw the colorful top being sold I immediately thought C would love it, and there, I could see his eyes lit up! He spun it there many times and dad too joined to try his hand at it! It was all good fun. Mom and I could not get to spin the top on its nail tip and it instead twirled on its head!

On the whole, it was a nice change to learn about the various types of architecture, types of fabric, designs, religious beliefs, see some folk dance with 'Tappatai' and also a dance show in the open air theater.

However, I felt that the place could be made more colorful and lively. After having been to Choki Dhani in Jaipur many times, this place somehow lacked that zest and vigor. Also, only Tamilnadu and Kerala was well represented in terms of the types of houses while Karnataka and AP had just one or two models. Though they were very neatly maintained, they looked kind of abandoned and there was hardly a soul to explain what certain artifacts meant.

Some things that I thought will give more character to the place:

Get men/women of respective cities/castes to have a small food stall showcasing their traditional fare. Nothing draws people like some well-made delicious food!!

Some more game stalls. Like a bow&arrow game, or a dart board...

Music and Dance - Hire some more artists and have a mini stage for them to perform. Anything from Karagattam to 'Poi Kaal Kudhirai' dance.

Some more Action - maybe Silambattam, Kalaripayattu and other traditional martial arts from the other southern states.

If they can implement some of these and market this place well, it is truly a wonderful tourist spot!

And on Saturday, C and I visited Osteria again! I think it was the second outing for us after this. One of the things that I miss occasionally, after moving to Chennai, is the time I get to spend with C exclusively! Almost every weekend we seem to have visitors and staying just next to my parents' doesn't make it any easier for us to venture out as a couple often. We mostly take them along where ever we go and not under any compulsion but just that we truly enjoy spending time with everybody. But once in a while, I would like to savour some quality time with C and Saturday's lunch at Osteria was one such. The food being excellent we had a good time devouring every bit of it :-) We were so satiated that I almost skipped dinner.

Had a nice weekend overall. Spent time with C and also with family. (Rhyme unintended!)