On January 13 we had our Pongal celebration. We had a drama, kolam, folk songs and Pongal setup competition in the programme list in the morning. Clay pots were coated with turmeric paste and decorated with yellow pumpkin flowers and three sticks of sugarcane were kept in a triangular shape along with some fruits. Then there was a play on the Pongal festival. Being a Muslim I didn’t know how and why the people of Tamil Nadu celebrate Pongal. But after watching the play, I understood it. The teachers prepared pongal on the school ground. When the milk boiled and started rising one of our teachers sang the kummi song and some children started to go around the pot, clapping their hands. The most beautiful part of the morning was the art work done by our kindergarten students on one wall of our school. There was a singing competition for students of Classes 5 to 8. The songs transported me to the countryside. The team which sang the song otha kallu won the first prize. After lunch we had the Pongal setup competition for Class 9 and rangoli competition for Classes 7 and 8. The topic for rangoli was ‘Dream 2012’. Around 10 teams participated in it. All participants had different ideas but many of them used ‘save’ in their ideas. My favorite drawings were ‘India free from corruption’ which had the picture of Anna Hazare , ‘No men are strange’ which had a picture of India in the background and a dove, and ‘Save Trees’. I enjoyed the function and had plenty of fun.
Abdul Razaq
Class 7, Section B
Sunshine Academy MHSS
Mehta Nagar