Mysuru: The free-spirited children of Mahouts and Kavadis who are here along with the Dasara elephants showed that they are no less than the city-bred children.

The children unearthed their talents at the Makkala Dasara organised by the Women and Child Sub-Committee as part of Dasara celebrations at the Jaganmohan Palace, here last evening.

The Kavadis and Mahouts’ children presented the play ‘Kindarijogi,’ which has a moral lesson, under the direction of Kuvempunagar music teachers Nagendrakumar, Anitha and Rangaswamy.

The villagers of Chikkahalli, a small hamlet in Bommannahalli in Malnad were suffering from rat infestation. The village head or Patel of that hamlet through the town announcer, announces that he would pay 6,000 sovereigns to anyone who could get rid of the rats. Hearing this, the Lord’s disciple appears in the role of ‘Kindarijogi,’ or Pied Piper in colourful attire attracting the attention of the people.

The Kindarijogi lures the rats away from the village; however, the Patel refuses to pay him the promised sum of 6,000 sovereigns.  The way Kindarijogi is cheated is so well depicted by the children. The Pied Piper decides to teach the village head a lesson. He comes back a few days later and through his magical pipe lures the children away.

The tribal children on stage showed their acting skills as they were properly trained by the teachers and through the drama they sent a message to the audience how not to be cheated and not to cheat.

Later, they sang in a group ‘Navu kadu kurabarayya kole kole… Navu Jenukurbarayya kole kole.’

Earlier to the play, the girls participated in a group dance. They danced to their hearts content to the tunes of ‘Malli malli minchulli…’ ‘Gali gandha tampaithu…’ and to a film tune ‘Dinavidi idetara  iddareshtu chanda chanda…’ They introduced the true beauty of nature from where they come, through this song.

Then they also danced without any inhibition to the songs of achievers and martyrs —Sadhakarige chappale…Bharat Ratnakke chappale…Deshava kayuva yodharige chappale…

And, these children were performing for the first time on the big stage, which drew a lot of appreciation from the people gathered.