From being a field day for school students who exercised their grey cells on a day of quizzing, to turning out as a trip down memory lane for a generation that has grown up reading the Young World of The Hindu , it was a birthday celebration that was special in more ways than one.
On Thursday, the newspaper celebrated the 20th anniversary of its children's supplement Young World and the 11th edition of the all-India finals of The Hindu Young World quiz.
In a competition fought by six pairs of boys, the team from Bhavan's Vidya Mandir, Elamakkara, Kochi, won the national finals. Aswin Menon and K. Rishikesh, both from class IX, were on the top of the chart from the beginning. Their research, with emphasis on reading the MasterMind quiz books, and preparation that started a month before the Kochi regional level competition, helped them as they were way ahead of the other teams.
ADVERTISEMENT
P. Anish and Arnav Chandrasekhar of Vidhya Niketan Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore, and R. Avinash and R. Gurudarashane of Petit Seminaire Higher Secondary School, Puduchery came second and third respectively. Sixteen regional level winners of the quiz were shortlisted in the semi-final round, where quiz master V.V. Ramanan tested their knowledge in different areas.
As part of the Young World's birthday a special postal cover was released by M.S. Ramanujan, Postmaster General, Chennai City Region, which was received by N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu . Formula One racer Karan Chandok released ‘Forever Young,' the collector's edition of Young World and it was received by national award winning child actors Sreeraam and Kishore.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr. Ramanujan announced that the Postal Department would partner in the next edition of The Hindu Young World Painting competition. The best paintings will be used for a stamp. He recalled his association with the newspaper, especially Young World where he likes to solve jumbles and the junior version of Sudoku.
Mr. Chandok said the present generation was probably reading less with the influence of the electronic media. “I am from the old school and at home we subscribe to five newspapers,” he said, adding that the jokes and comic pages in the Young World were his favourites.
‘Young people reading less'
Mr. Ram said young people were reading less of printed paper. He appealed to the audience to read newspapers. “Whether it is print or online, it is your personal choice, but you need to be at an advantage by reading and thus develop your potential,” he said. Mr. Ram said that Young World represented a wide range of subjects and offered comprehensive knowledge.
Nirmala Lakshman, Joint Editor, The Hindu , said the journey of Young World began 20 years ago with a four-page supplement on Saturdays.
It soon became “a new world, a territory for exploration, of learning that soon became an integral part of many children's lives not just at home but also at school where teachers found that much of what went into it made the teaching of lessons in classrooms much easier.”
M.V. Muthuramalingam, Chairman, Velammal Educational Trust, stressed reading for overall development.
Anjana Vasuki, designer and Niveditha Subramaniam, editor of ‘Forever Young' received special mention.
The Velammal Educational Trust was the Title sponsor of the quiz, while HUL (Pepsodent) was Associate Sponsor. National sponsors were Eureka Forbes (Aqua Sure); Black Thunder; Gold Winner; YO Bikes; Tamilnadu Mercantile Bank; Reckitt Benckiser (Cherry Blossom); Reynolds; Britannica Encyclopaedia; Vizag Steel Plant; Penguin Books; and Firefox Bikes. Tata Motors was the car sponsor, iAds & events the event manager and Dabur the Beverage sponsor.