CHENNAI: The Sunday afternoon view at Palavakkam beach was a sight to behold with beautiful sand designs and sculptures that decked up the beach. Jeppiaar Engineering college held a sand-sculpting contest — based on the theme Turles and Seashore — to save the aquatic natural habitat, particularly the endangered olive ridley turtles.
The participants of this contest included school and college students, and corporate employees. Hafiz Khan, one of the active participants of ‘Save a turtle’ campaign said,“ We received around 327 registrations online and there were a few spot registrations as well. The response has been really good.” “The disposal of plastic bags into the sea and the chemicals that are released into the water affect the life of turtles. They often mistake plastic bags to be jellyfish and feed on them,” adds Deepak Sabto, who was dressed up as a garbage collector for the event.
The cause has received support from not just locals but also from many foreigners in the city. “Olive ridley turtles visit the shores at night. They lay the eggs and have a tendency to move towards the region where there is light. So, it’s necessary that they don’t move towards the streets attracted by the street lights. They need to move towards the sea where the sun rises,” says Yussef Labidi, from Tunisia, who is a part of the campaign. Teachers accompanied their students.
“I feel teaching kids about such an important environmental concern is necessary. I also believe in practical learning. This way students cannot forget the worth of cleaning a beach and proper disposal of waste,” said Thamarai, a teacher from Jeppiaar College. The participants were given a chance to use their creative skills to the optimum.
They were asked to form a group of five and work on the sculptures from 1 pm to 3 pm. They used a shovel, trowel, tridipanel, bangles, bottles with holes on the caps, buckets of water and scales to carve out intricate designs on the sand. The sculpture created by the students of Sri Venkateshwara College, which showed the Google search engine and the results of turtles (as extinct), was the highlight of the contest. Participants were judged based on designs and beauty of the sculptures.
There were two winners in each category (school, college, corporates). The winners and the the runners-up were awarded `7,500 and `5,000 respectively. The group, Save a Turtle, has planned several other awareness events including a marathon next weekend. In the past, they also conducted a beach clean-up drive.