THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Much to the ire of the contestants, none of the venues rose to life on time on the first day of the Kerala University youth festival being held at Attingal. The curtains showed no signs of being hitched up on scheduled time at all the seven venues as the contestants and accompanying parents waited for infinity. The fancy dress competition which was supposed to begin at 10 am at the Bharat Murali Nagar, the main venue, began only by 11 am, pushing the following events further behind.
Resultantly, the mono act (male) scheduled to begin at 12 pm could only be started at 2 pm, badly disrupting the schedule of the other two events at the same venue, namely mono act (female) and Bharathanatyam (female).
The girl contestants bore the brunt of the inordinate delay. Many of the girls contestants had come to the fest without making arrangements for accommodation, hoping that they could return home by evening. Once the dusk set in, the girl contestants who had come alone for their events hoping to return home were left in dismay.
"My event was to begin at 2 pm. I had come alone for the youth festival. I had hoped that I could return today itself," said Divya, a contestant for mono act who was left waiting for her event, which did not begin even at 6 pm.
The other venues also shared similar tales. Shammer, a blind student from MG College, Thiruvananthapuram, who had arrived very early in the morning for the light music competition at 10 am, also found himself in a dither. He was to have an appointment with his eye doctor at noon.
Once the event got delayed, Shammer was forced to skip the event. "I had come early thinking that I could participate in the event and then meet my doctor for the monthly checkup. This was why my mother had to travel all the way from Punalur to Attingal. This kind of delay was totally unexpected," he said.
However, the organisers attributed the delay to obvious reasons.
"There are so many contestants for each event. Also, due to spot registration, events can’t be begun unless we have the final list," said an organiser. With the events being delayed, the parents of the participants who had come ill-prepared for staying were found seeking the nearest and safest place for accommodation.
Meanwhile, a steady turnout was visible in all the venues. The audience for the much popular mono act venue seemed too subdued in their response, except for an occasional clap and cheer.
The spirit of Soumya, who was pushed out of the train and then raped to death, pervaded the mono act stage. The late Congress leader K Karunakaran also had his share of moments in the mono act competition.