At 387, the city changes spirit to Hindu’s Made of Chennai festival

Playback singer Chinmayi during her eclectic and multilingual performance at the Made of Chennai food and music festival at YMCA Nandanam on Saturday. | Photo credit: R. RAVINDRAN

Chennai doesn’t so much celebrate its birthday as hum into being, and that hum—equal parts spirit and silence—defined this year’s Made of Chennai Hindu festival. Held at the YMCA grounds in Nandanam on Saturday, August 29, the Food and Music Festival celebrated 387 years of Madras in the way the city knows best: through sound, spice and sheer multiplicity.

What began at 4pm as a seemingly laid-back evening of DJ sets and food stalls on the outskirts of the country soon turned into something much more resounding, both for the enthusiastic crowd, whose energy faded with every beat, and for the musical artists who performed, among them Paal Dabba, Anthony Daasan, joined by his wife Rita, and the pop-rock band Makka. However, Chinmayi was the show of the night, her eclectic and multilingual performance carrying an extra charge of homecoming for the crowd.

While Vihara’s Carnatic and retro-rock strains along with the echoes of Ilaiyaraaj and Rahman’s timeless compositions captivated many in attendance, it was ultimately the tapestry of the evening as a whole, its people and its unhurried stylish presence that proved to be the real highlight.

People playing snakes and ladders and other board games at the food and music festival held at the YMCA grounds in Nandanam on Saturday. | Photo credit: R RAVINDRAN

The festival games zone brought back long-forgotten games like pallanguzhi and nondi (hops) along with snakes and ladders, bowling, ludo, tic-tac-toe and jenga. The intent behind it was unmistakable: to pull the crowd out of their virtual worlds back into the reality around them.

For a group of 20- and 30-somethings in the crowd who are part of the city’s top frisbee club, the Made of Chennai dance has become an annual tradition—a day that takes the group away from their busy schedule to come together in reverberation and reminiscence.

The food stalls, meanwhile, offered a mix of the familiar and the new – Chennai classics like Murugan Idli and Tibb’s Frankie alongside newer favorites like Ciclo, Oye Hoye, Bien Butter, Ricky’s Cookies and Kulfiwallah. The festival also featured a colorful display of Iftar dishes with Habibi’s Iftar snacks, Mannady’s Nombu Kanji and offerings from Al Noor Café rounding off the spread.

By the time the final set wound down, Chennai proved once again that its truest festival is simply the sound of itself, undiminished, at 387 and counting.

Published – 30 Aug 2026 0:16 IST