Often, students who learn art forms tend to neglect them after a certain point in their lives. More often, the travails of their occupations serve as justification for parting with the hard-earned knowledge.
Interestingly, a few of these artists revel in the cultural essence and continue to evolve in various art forms, notwithstanding the busy nature of their occupations.
Manaloor Gopinath, an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) with the Special Branch (Ernakulam) by profession, learnt Ottanthullal from Kalamandalam and has been an exponent of the art form for more than 10 years. Despite the busy nature of his work, Gopinath has trained many students in the art form. Two of his students have qualified for the current edition of the State School Arts Festival.
Moreover, he has participated in the Police ‘Kalamela' many times and has reaped many prizes apart from being anointed as the ‘Kalaprathibha' once. He has also performed at several temples like the Guruvayur Sreekrishna Temple and Thriprayar Sreerama Temple.
Anjana Sreekumar is a lawyer at the Thiruvananthapuram District Court. Hailing from Parassala, she had secured the top position in Ottanthullal competition at the Kerala University Youth Festival in 2003. She has also represented Thiruvananthapuram for Ottanthullal and Chakyarkoothu at the State-level cultural festival during her school days. She is accompanying two of her wards at the ongoing arts festival.
Prabul Kumar, who recently completed his MBA, shares the same passion for arts. This artist from Kaduthuruthy in Kottayam has fielded his student in the Ottanthullal competition at the festival. Mr. Kumar had won the third position in the event at the State arts fete in 2003 and four-time district-level winner.
