Tholpavai Koothu performance on Saving our Wetlands

Tholpavai Koothu is a 400 year old shadow puppet theatre. Kalaimamani Muthuchandran and a group of environmental activists developed a show on saving wetlands.

 The children watched with rapt attention. They laughed their heads off at the funny antics of the puppets. At the end of the show the artist, Mr Muthuchandran, spoke about the tradition of shadow puppet shows. He explained how the puppets are made, the intricacies of light and colour, how he is able to use different voices to play different characters.

The activists explained how unfettered construction damages wetlands and leads to ecological disasters like floods.

The children had several questions and comments at the end. Which they shared with  parents once they returned home. One parent reported "My kids shared their puppet show experience... they were just overwhelmed...! 😄😄😄"

Definitely an event they're going to remember lifelong.