The story starts at Madurai in the Azhagar Koil Thiruvizha background. We get a glimpse of thiruvizha of the last century.
Then we come to Thiruvarur, Sikkal & Nagappattinam. Only Thiruvarur is explained well. IN the last chapter we are transported to srilanka with excellent narration.
Train travels in the Thanjavur belt are well explained.
How people pack food while traveling, how they prepare etc can be visualized.
Amidst a strong musical and dance backdrop, all these details flow naturally.
You would want to take away the Kooja Shanmughasundaram fills up with Cashews & Mittai at Thanjavur. The descriptions in each & every chapter is wonderful including the imperceptible facial movements that Vadivu or Vettalapetti make. Makes you regret for not having lived in that period.Shobha
That - there was a good migration of people in to Chettinad as the education institutions started opening.
Chettinad dominated the music scene as well with local masters, Veenai sisters , Ariyakkudi, Padarkkudi vadyar to B Rajam Iyer, Kunnakkudi to Karaikkudi mani with people like Poochi srinivasa iyengar from the neighbouring ramanad.
The late 70 s and 80s were the fading and final period of that culture - Mix of chettinad with that of the new migrant.
i belong to the final phase and that was another golden era - though not much written like tanjore or srirangam.