CHENNAI: Earlier last month, the 48-day event - Kumbh Mela, said to be the world’s largest religious congregation - began at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, and in an attempt to enhance the knowledge of students about the festival, its etymology, and history, The New Indian Express in association with the Government of Uttar Pradesh, organised the Express Kumbh Quiz 2019 on Thursday.
Young and twinkly-eyed magnet minds of Sivanthi Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Ramapuram, gathered in their school premises to take part in the competition. While the young quizmasters from MOP Vaishnav College for Women — Ayshwaryaa A, Nivedita N, and Shreya Rugmani Narayan, final year B com students, prepared the quiz arena, sound from the shiny buzzers set on the tables, and excited murmurs filled the room.
After battling it out, team A — D Gokulnath, A Latha, B Rubika and Roshan R, were announced winners. “We prepared for a whole day and it was interesting to learn things information about the festival,” said Gokulnath, a class 6 student.
Meanwhile, in one of the classrooms at Venkateswara Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Alwarthirunagar, 16 students from classes eight and nine in four teams each competed. The quiz was moderated by three quizzers from MOP College in the presence of the principal, vice principal and correspondent. After three challenging rounds and 41 questions, Team A triumphed. The winning group comprised S Dev Prasath and RM Umashankar from class eight, and S Jayakumar and V Ravindran from class nine.
“Earlier, our grandparents used to tell us bedtime stories on mythology and religion. Nowadays most of us live in nuclear families. This was an opportunity for the students to use the Internet wisely and learn their culture. We have a rich legacy and it needs to be carried forward. It’s a wonderful initiative to shape up students’ awareness,” said S Dhanalakshmi, the principal. The atmosphere at the MOP Vaishnav College for Women in Nungambakkam was no different.