Kalari and Kathakali in Thekkady : )

While walking around Thekkady, I booked an evening show to witness some cultural art forms, beginning with the Kathakali dance. It combines storytelling, dance, and music, often enacting stories from Indian epics. Since it is so expressive, we barely need much narration around the story; in this particular one, we witnessed a story around Indra Dev.

All through the show, I kept wondering how much time and effort these dancers have put in since their youth to become adept at expressing lore via dance, and that too with so much sincerity.

We can see the coordination from both the dancer as well as the percussionists on stage, which is quite mesmerizing as they all contribute to the mood of the story.

There are so many emotions that this artist can show clearly on his face.

Some expressions are ever so subtle, but at the very least, the intelligence of the audience is not mocked at any point, and it is left to us to interpret what we see—how we see it.

At one point, the dancer invites an audience member to come on stage, and there is barely any spoken word, but there is also no need for it!

What better way to top this evening if not with Kalaripayattu, which is a martial arts form involving incredible agility and the use of basic weapons like hand combat, cloth, and wooden sticks. There is also the use of swords, which can get pretty fiery, as we go on to see.

It felt like I walked into a movie set proclaiming the start of a territorial war, and the only weapons of choice are these swords and armor from the royal armory. Needless to say, every second of the Kalari performance kept us at the edge of our seats because who is even doing it like them in today's world!

The Kalari fighters are so quick in their movements that if you blink, you truly miss the moment, and in one exercise, I saw just how they must have broken their tube lights while being so far away. Just goes to say that messing with a Kalari fighter can have dire consequences, no matter your distance!