It’s a rare hat-trick for Santosh Chirakkara. For the third consecutive time, the logo of the State School Kalolsavam has born out of his brush.
In fact, this is the fourth time that his logo has been selected for the largest confluence of children in Asia. Besides the three hat-trick years, his logo was also chosen for the 42nd State School Kalolsavam held at Kozhikode in 2002-03.
Santosh, a native of Thalassery, has been working as art teacher with Venerini Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Kozhikode, for the last 11 years.
``It is a big honour for me,’’ says Santosh, who is in the city to be a part of the fest. He was awarded a cash prize at the inaugural function held at Putharikandam Maidan on Tuesday.
Santosh has taken a diploma in painting from Kerala School of Arts, Kannur, with the scholarship of Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi. It was for the Kozhikode revenue district youth festival of 2002 that he first designed the logo.
So, how does he go about designing the logo? ``Whenever I design one, I give importance to the place where it is happening,’’ he says. So, in this year’s logo, you will find the picture of the Secretariat, the major landmark of the capital city, in the middle.
``Then, the logo talks about the three forms of art - fine arts, visual arts and then percussion.’’ In the logo, the nib of the pen stands for fine arts. The ‘chutti’ of Kathakali, at the bottom of the logo, symbolises visual arts. And the black colour in the middle is for percussion items. The shape also stands for a palette, he explains.
And, since the present kalolsavam is an integrated affair with the participation of high school, higher secondary and vocational higher secondary students, the border of the logo shows students standing together holding their hands high.
Santosh, 32, has also designed the logos of the State HSS Kalolsavam 2005 (Kozhikode), State Technical School Kalolsavam 2003 (Wayanad), CPM State Meet 2005 (Malappuram) and SFI All-India Meet 2003 (Kozhikode).