While Pongal holidays have come and gone, memories of the festive season linger on, just like the waft of the ghee-flavoured feast that made a comeback in your menu last week. It’s time to take a look at how city schools recreated the sights and sounds of the harvest season, rural backdrop, donned a new role to spread awareness on protecting their environment, and went all out to pay tribute to their farmer friends.
Piping Hot Messages
“Don’t let our future go up in smoke”, the power-packed message struck a chord among people from different walks of life who passed by Nageswara Rao Park on Friday morning.
Carrying placards and raising slogans on the adverse effects of burning waste on Bhogi, students of Aikya, a centre for special children, put forth the need for a smokeless Bhogi festival. The environmentally-conscious youngsters had the morning walkers in rapt attention with their campaign that was jointly planned by Team Everest, a youth voluntary organisation and Aikya.
Students of Velammal Vidyalaya, Mel Ayanambakkam, underlined the theme — Smokeless bhogi to protect our environment — with a captivating skit on the different shades of folk songs, supported by a menagerie of farm animals rendering a rustic charm to the school campus on Thursday. Chief guest and popular playback singer Velmurugan inaugurated the function with a traditional pooja to propitiate the Sun God followed by preparation of chakkarai pongal by the school staff that was later distributed to the entire school. An action-packed demo on the cherished martial art, Silambattam, brought the event to a colourful close.
Cherishing Our Roots
Attired in traditional costumes, students of the Little Flower Convent HSS for the Deaf livened up the celebrations with interesting trivia on the harvest festival and paid tribute to Tamil folk dances, including the crowdfavourite kummi. In a bid to spread the message of giving back to society, the students staged a play that highlighted the need for youngsters to lend a supporting hand to those affected by cyclone Thane.
On a concluding note, junior students of Anna Gem Science Park MHSS entertained their peers with a spirited cultural performance, and wrapped up the potpourri of fun by distributing lip-smacking chakkarai pongal to the delighted school staff.