Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Youth festival inaugurated

Photo: S. Mahinsha

COLOURFUL EVENT: Scenes from a cultural procession taken out in connection with the inauguration of the Kerala University Union Youth Festival in the city on Monday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: More than 3,000 students from as many as 178 colleges under the University of Kerala will vie for top honours in various events at the Kerala University Youth Festival that got underway here on Monday.

Competitions will be held in nine venues for 63 events. It is after a gap of three years that the Kerala University Union is conducting the annual youth festival- a high point in the calendar of any university union. A large number of self-financing colleges are participating in this festival.

The festival was inaugurated here on Monday by noted film maker Kumar Sahani. In his inaugural address Mr. Sahani said technology was taking over many functions of the human body and mind. The nature of our society is such that it is permitting this take over. SO much so, technology has become more important than the man who created it. Kerala’s culture is a find blend of many cultures of the world. There is no place else where such a confluence of cultures has taken place. The future in performing arts is for those who recognise and build on this synthesis.

Through art man reshapes the continuum of his mind and body.

The diversity of dance forms in Kerala means that many more ways of expressing the playful joy that is inherent in the human mind, Mr. Sahani said. These dance forms are different ways of manifesting the very essence of life and giving it a mathematical and linguistic component. These components are being constantly reshaped, he pointed out.

M. K. Ramachandran Nair, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kerala, MLAs G. Karthikeyan and V. Sivankutty, Mayor C. Jayan Babu, district panchayat president Anavoor Nagappan, Syndicate members and union president Chintha Jerome were among those who participated in the inaugural ceremony.

The inaugural session was preceded by a cultural procession that began from the Kanakakkunnu palace.

Since the United Democratic Front has not exempted the district from the proposed hartal on Tuesday the conduct of the youth festival is likely to get affected. The organisers said here on Sunday that competitions would be held only at the Senate Hall and at the University College on Tuesday on account of the hartal. Transportation would also be provided for the participants. The organisers have also not scheduled any programmes on February 22, the day of the Pongala at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple.

Winners of the first prize will get six grace marks, second prize winners, five marks and third prize winners, three.

Some results of the youth festival:

Applied Art: First prize — M.S. Prasanth (T. K. M. Engineering College, Kollam); Second prize — Rubin Joseph (Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram); Third prize — Vaishak Vasanth (Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram)

Painting: First prize — S.R. Rajeev( government engineering college Barton Hill); Second prize — K. V. Krishnadev (Governmetn Law College); Third prize — T. S. Dhanesh( T. K. M. Engineering College, Kollam).

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