It was a riot of red, orange, yellow, pink, white and violet colours along the corridor of Little Flower Convent UP School, Pallipuram, Kochi, as students spread their collection of flowers in connection with Children's Day.
Around 200 varieties of flowers that are commonly found in Vypeen, Cherai and Pallipuram and also species that are fast becoming extinct found their way to the floral exhibition. The event was organised by Vypeen-based Thapovanam, an NGO. The organisation cultivates around 200 varieties of medicinal plants in its premises alone and is engaged in exhorting people to follow the traditional way of simple living.
Many varieties
“Though we had visualised the floral-collection event as a contest, the judges had a tough job on hand as 30 children brought a vast variety of similar flowers. So, we rewarded all 30 of them,” says Mahesh Mangat, director of the organisation. Among the flowers that led their way to the exhibition were thumpa, thechi, mukutti and poovamkuruni, many of which have already become alien to children living in the city. An environmental seminar was held, to drive home the point that the selfishness of human beings is proving catastrophic to nature and the very existence of mankind.
Thapovanam organises programmes for children in connection with special occasions. They include reading and painting contests, programmes to spread awareness on Gandhian writings, exhibition of science and palm-leaf manuscripts and traffic-awareness events. On Independence Day, it organised a display of newspapers that announced the country's freedom from the British Rule.
