ALLAPUZHA: Engineering students from Alappuzha are earning a good income by singing bhajans. The five-member bhajan group known as Haripad Devasena Bhajans Troupe is making waves in Kerala and beyond.

More than six hundred venues in seven years. Bookings are also available for festivals, weddings and housewarming functions. Each member earns up to Rs 60,000 during festive seasons. They have also received an opportunity to present a program at the Ayodhya Sri Ram Temple next year.

They are the disciples of Shantammal teacher of Sriparvathi Thiruvathira Kalari in Mannarasala. The troupe's initial members were Abhirami, Nakshatra, Nandana, Srikarthika, Haya. Devika Vasudevan, Aloka Kaimal, Swathi Pranavam and A Surya came as replacements when those other than Nakshatra left for higher studies.

The girls' bhajan troupe was initiated in 2017 by their parents who realized that they have talent in singing as well as dancing. The concept was proposed by ​​Abhirami's mother Jayalakshmi. The name 'Devasena' was given by Nakshatra's mother Tushara. They asked for an opportunity at the Haripad Subrahmanya temple. That was the beginning. At that time only guitar and mridangam were in the orchestra. Bookings started happening after their first program. One will sing, and the others will do the chorus. This was followed for the first three years. All five started singing later.

Bhajan is for two hours. Old and new devotional songs, devotional fusion and film devotional songs will be sung. Once their sponsor scammed them without paying. Since then they have been taking bookings by accepting an advance of five thousand rupees. The orchestra consists of Anil Kumar Cheravalli, Vijayan Haripad, Rakesh Kottaram and Manish.

Helping hand for family

They have performed in Maharashtra, Karnataka and most districts of Kerala. They are very busy during the festival season. So busy that they have performed in up to three venues in one day. Income also increased. Most of the Nakshatra B.Tech fees are paid from her own income. Surya helped her father by paying a good amount of money to build their house. This income has helped Swati during her father's illness. Aloka has not depended on her family for her studies for four years. The troupe is led by parents Jyoti and Thushara.