Annamanada, Thrissur: The Achutha Marar Vadya Kala Kendra here, which was tormented by the last month’s devastating floods, is staring at an uncertain future after several percussion instruments worth lakhs of rupees got damaged in the monsoon fury.
The memorial institute, which is located on the banks of the Chalakudy river, was almost entirely inundated by flood waters, leaving a trail a destruction. The authorities had made all the arrangements to initiate new learners into Percussion Symphony (Panchavadya Melam) in connection with Vijaya Dasami celebrations on October 19 when the flood played spoilsport.
Several percussion and wind instruments were damaged beyond repair. As many as thirteen 'thimilas', six 'chendas' and three 'maddalams' and several 'kombus' were destroyed after lying immersed in floodwaters for several days.
The Achutha Marar Vadya Kala Kendra was established in 2001 under the patronage of the grama panchayat as a mark of respect to the legendary percussionist and with an objective of imparting training to interested youngsters in Kerala’s traditional percussion.
So far, around twenty batches of students have passed out from the institute after completing training in different percussion and wind instruments. The students are trained by Annamanada Muraleedhara Marar (Panchavadyam and Thimila), and Koratty Raman Aasan (Melam).
With the flood causing extensive damage to the institute, the authorities and percussion lovers in the area are now on a mission to restore its past glory. They are now striving hard to conduct the annual initiation programme as scheduled.
Though the building, which was filled with slush and debris dumped by the floods, was cleaned with the help of forest officials, the reopening of the institute has been delayed as most of the instruments used to train students were rendered unusable after becoming damp in the floods.