The banners were there, yes. There were various help desks as well.
Yet, the premises of Malabar Christian College on Monday didn’t quite look like the venue for an important arts festival. But, then, the Calicut University inter-zone festival always takes time to warm up, quite unlike the school arts festival.
The first couple of days are usually reserved for the off-stage events, such as writing, elocution and painting.
The festival will come alive on Wednesday, when the on-stage competitions in events such as dance, music and drama open. On day one, contests were held in essay writing, versification and short story writing in various languages, cartoon, pencil drawing, collage and poster making. The results, however, are expected only on Tuesday. On Monday morning, the off-stage competitions were inaugurated by writer K.P. Ramanunni. “Students should announce loudly that creativity in arts is an integral part of education,” he said in his speech. “But, the primary aims of education have changed now. The syllabus now tries to turn students into money-making machines instead of creating good citizens.”
He added that there was an attempt to depoliticise at private colleges in the State. “Politics has a place in our campuses,” he said. “We are going through a phase in our country when opposing views are resisted by authorities. Our campuses should raise a voice against that.”
