‘Age cannot wither ,nor custom stale her infinite variety’. These Shakespearean words will aptly fit into Malathy G,Menon’s life. A versatile artist with inborn talents for any art form which comes her way is scaling new heights even at the age of 79. Malathy .G.Menon , popularly known as the Granny of Thiruvathira is all set to break more records and talks about her passion and vision to promote Thiruvathira in an exclusive chat with The Friday Mania at her residence in Kochi.
Most aged people consider retirement as the time to hide into their shells but for her life started effectively after her retirement from government service as a Hindi teacher. Born with a silver spoon at the famous Sreevilasam Tharavadu at Kumbalam, ,Malathy teacher started learning Thiruvathira at the age of three from her mother Sreevilasam Karthiyayani Amma, a renowned teacher and performer. Her memories go down the lane and gets nostalgic while talking about the performances during her younger days. According to her Thiruvathira was performed only in the month of Dhanu and that too only in Namboothiri and Nair families .Now the art form is played for any important festivals and occasions and is enjoyed by all alike.
Her dedication has come to a fulfillment when she founded a school named ‘Parvanendu School of Thiruvathira’ at Ravipuram with an aim to promote Thiruvathira as a mainstream art form of Kerala .She has trained a number of children, homemakers, working women etc and has conducted many stage shows which brought fame and popularity to the institution. In 2012 Parvanendu school did a Thiruvathira performance with 300 ladies at Changampuzha park which was par excellent .Again Malathy teacher conducted a performance at Durbar Hall ground with 3026 performers in 2013.She has many firsts to her credit .She is the pioneer in the field of ‘Pinnal Thiruvathira’ ,which gave her the honour of being listed in the Limca book of Records. Malathy teacher was always a part of the judging panels of various art forms in the district and state level competitions. She has brought out many books and cassettes about Thiruvathira. When she talks about her interests no field is alien to her .She has done her debut performance in Kathakali, edakka, keyboard and is a student of chenda. She has also acted in Malayalam movies and ad films. Awards and accolades came in her way with so many recognitions and was given Kerala Sree for her outstanding contribution in the field. She plans for a performance with 10,000 performers in 2017 and is all set to break records.
Malathy G.Menon wishes to promote this art form to an international level and has a desire to perform abroad in the near future. And with an unbeaten spirit and enthusiasm of her own , anything and everything is possible for this enchanting veteran artist.
