It was certainly one of the sweetest and engaging scenes to witness children ranging from toddlers to pre-teens all dressed up as Lord Krishna and mothers, a few of them dressed as Yashoda at Kadri Manjunatheshwara Temple premises recently. They had come together for Shree Krishna Vesha competition held as part of 27th Shree Krishna Janmashtami celebration by Kalkura Prathishtana.
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Enthusiasm was in the air with mothers descending at the venue with their 'Little Krishnas'. Sushma Mayya, mother of Abhiraj said that it was the desire to see her son dressed up as Krishna that motivated her to register his name for the competition. He was participating in the Tunta Krishna category for the first time.
Excited bunch
The competition saw the participation of over 1,000 children in 13 categories namely, Kanda Krishna for toddlers below one year, Muddu Krishna for children between two and three years, Kishora Krishna for children of upper kindergarten and std 1, Tunta Krishna for children between two and three years, Bala Krishna for children of pre-school and lower kindergarten, Shree Krishna for Stds II, III and IV and Yaksha Krishna, Radha Krishna, Shankanada, Geetha Krishna and Shree Krishna quiz for children up to Std VII .
While the mothers too were excited the sheer number of participants made the work of 52 expert judges that much more difficult. Sarojini Shetty, the judge for Tunta Krishna category said that judging was very difficult as all the toddlers were good under this category. "But the child's costume and innocence was given the prime importance," she added. Vidyashree Radhakrishna, the mother of two-year-old Purvi Krishna, who had won third prize last year in toddlers' category said that her daughter was not specially trained. "As I am a dance teacher, she picked up dancing skills naturally. She is also confident," she added.
Sudhakar Rao Pejavar, the chief co-ordinator of prathishtana said that creativeness and innovativeness on the part of participants are given the utmost importance. This is to encourage children to spend more time in a cultural environment.
Further all the participants are given gifts, he added.
