It might be quite tricky to answer the question “Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the painter?”
Out in the auditorium of Assisi Vidyaniketan Public School in Kochi, 450 children from Ernakulam and neighbouring districts let loose their creative talent at the Central Kerala round of The Hindu Young World painting competition.
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Most of them painted splendid images of humans, birds and animals in rural settings and also vast open spaces where children enjoyed every moment of life. It was evident that the participants — most of them from congested Kochi and busy towns, dreamt of being amidst what their grandparents and most of their parents had taken for granted.
They visualised life going on at a relaxed pace — with no high-rise buildings and malls around, no vehicles spewing toxic emissions and constantly blaring their horns. It was evident that children who are lucky to be taken to their native place very often relished every moment of their time there, amidst cousins, grandparents and rural folk in a very rustic and green setting.
The juniors (Stds IV to VII) could choose from three topics — watching television with family, playing a game with friends and a fancy dress competition in school. The topics for seniors (Stds VIII to X) were a visit to a museum, a village scene and working on a school project with friends.
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Children playing kites, shuttle and football (most of them wearing jerseys of Argentina and Germany), workers harvesting paddy, cows grazing in the meadows, thatched huts, bullock carts, country boats on rivers and streams, kids playing hide and seek, village folk engaged in their daily chores, children chasing bicycle tyres with a stick, a village tea shop… most aspects of rural life were nicely captured on paper.
There were also scenes of children watching their favourite programme on TV, with a participant also giving the caption — “Watching television with grandparents, parents and a month-old baby sister”. In the theme fancy dress, there were Superman and a mosquito walking the ramp!
The winners
Students from two Kochi schools — Lakshmi K. of Std V from the S.B.O.A. Public School and Kevin Joshy of Std X from Nava Nirman Public School won the first prize in the junior and senior categories respectively.
Daksha Gupta of Std VI from The Choice School, Tripunithura, and Deepak Satish of Std IV from the Navy Children School, Kochi, came second and third among juniors. Nandana Menon of Std VIII from Rajasree SMM School, Aluva, and Ashwin Jose Kattikaran of Std VIII from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kadavanthra, were second and third among seniors.
The chief guest was Sharath Das, cine actor, while the Chairman of Kerala Lalithakala Academy C.N. Karunakaran and artist P.V. Nandan were the judges for the event.
The contest was sponsored nationally by MIOT Hospitals, while Maaza, Rison International and Nestle India were the regional sponsors.