Mangaluru: A lazy Sunday evening was splashed with the colour of life as 72 children celebrated Ganesh Chathurthi on a creative note. An event in Forum Fiza mall allowed the creative side of children to be let out in the form of making Ganesh idols for a competition.
Children were seen engrossed and busy with moulding, and painting the idols that they were making. Some were even seen lending their materials to the other in need. There were quite a few children who witnessed the event and their parents bought the necessary materials from a nearby stationary shop and then participated.
The event had drawn attraction of all the three floors of the mall as people were looking down on it from the top. “It is indeed a unique event, where children are encouraged to get their creative side with moulding and painting”, one spectator was heard saying to the other.
As the kids were busy with their art, there were several activities which were being conducted to keep the gathering occupied. One activity was to do with telling out the various names of Ganapathi and a woman who knew her prayers well rapped the 21 names of the lord.
While some people sang devotional songs and some patriotic, the music got more life into the event. It was not only the adults who were taking part but also the children who had finished off making their idols sang their favourite songs. The spirit of Ganesha festival was evoked as three women took turns in telling stories of the Elephant God.
The first contender to finish the competition, 3-year-old Charan was the youngest participant while the eldest was 15-year-old. “Ganesha is my favourite God. More than a God, Ganapathi is a friend of mine. He is always there for me when I’m not feeling good”, said Samith a 5-year-old who won the first place in the 5-10 years category.
The Ganeshas were made using different materials. Clay models were designed to perfection along with the lord’s trusted vehicle and his favourite food, modaks and laddus were made by most of the contestants and kept as offerings. Apart from the clay models, one participant cut out foam sheets to make the face of Ganapathi, one other participant made a tiny model of the lord using strips of coloured paper. Another creative model was made using flour, salt and green gram titled ‘Eco Friendly Ganesha’.
A team of judges, Vijay D’souza a head member of Mangalore Lions Club, Geetha P Uchil the President of Janani Trust and Sumathi Hegde an art and cultural expert inspected the idols made by the children and rated them based on the presentation, precision and looks of the idols. The results were close and it took the judges quite some time to decide upon the winners as the idols were too good.
“I came to know about the event on Friday, I just had two days to practice. I had to be quick in learning and effective. Since it is a ‘team of two’ event, I called my friend and asked her to take part with me. We had only one day at our disposal to practice for the event and we got a lot of clay and started off immediately. We just got two practice runs but we were ready”, said Ashwin Kotian, one of the young competitors.
The idols were kept on display at the place of the event for people who were visiting the mall to see the various creative models. Several people were seen posing infront of the idols and getting theirpictures clicked.
The list of winners are as follows
Below 5 years category-
1st Place – Ridhi Shetty
2nd Place – Manyatha
5 – 10 years category-
1st place – Tied between Samith and Sanvi
2nd place – Rakshith
3rd place – Tied between Ananya Narayan and Laasya
Above 10 years category-
1st place – Tied between teams of Shraddha and Sidharth, Akshay and Athul
2nd place – Team of Khyathi and Dhanya
3rd place – Moulya
The event was presented by Happy Hearts, Lions and Lioness Club of Ashoknagar, venue partner Forum Fiza Mall, TV partner Namma TV, radio partner 92.7 Big FM, print partner School Book Company, support sponsor Sun Premium and media partner NewsKarnataka.com
