KOCHI: When the curtains fell on the second day, Ernakulam maintained its lead with 648 points. Aluva and Paravoor are in second and third positions with 643 and 602 points respectively. Unlike the first day, Mattancherry fell behind securing 588 points. 177 competitions were completed, with only 57 remaining on the final day of the District School Festival.
In the higher secondary and high school sections, Ernakulam is leading with 256 and 257 points respectively. In the higher secondary section, North Paravoor secured the second position with 247 points and Aluva with 229. Whereas in the high school section, Aluva secured the second position with 251 points. Thripunithura, Mattancherry and Perumbavoor shared the third position with 215 points each. Meanwhile, for the Arabic festival, Aluva is leading with 84 points, whereas for Sanskrit festival North Paravoor, Aluva and Perumbavoor are in the first place with 79 points.
Finally, Ciya Teresa will contest in the state youth festival
Kochi: It is a first for Ciya Teresa of St Augustine Girls HSS, Kuzhupilly, who will now go on to contest in the state-level art festival to be held at Alappuzha. Ciya burst into tears on hearing her name being announced by the judges in the first place for Thiruvathira, High School category, at the venue of Adhyapaka Bhavan at the festival. “She is going to contest in the state-level,” said Shiny, Ciya’s mother, with tears of joy. It has been more than three times she has been participating in the district school festival, but this year, all her prayers came true. “Each time I went on stage I used to pray for getting qualified. We could not make it to the state last year,” said Ciya. Meanwhile, Shiny was very confident this time about her daughter winning. “This first prize was expected this year. Her hard work has finally paid off,” she said.
Making do with Nandakishore’s makeup
Kochi: Expressions are key in mime performances and makeup plays an important part in it. But Nandakishore and his team were caught in a quandary when they were left without a makeup artist at the 11th hour for the festival on Thursday. Even though they tried everything to get a stand-in makeup artist, nothing worked out and Nandakishore stepped in and took on the responsibility. It took around three hours to complete the makeup of the six-member team from St Sebastian’s HSS, Palluruthy. “If we had performed without makeup we would have been disqualified. We started the makeup at around 3 pm since our programme was delayed, we got lucky,” said Nandakishore.
Lacklustre performances leave audience dejected
Kochi: The performance showcased by the participants in various events on day two was not up to the mark. According to the judges, the performers seemed to lack enthusiasm and energy. According to a parent, technical glitches and the delay in staging the events had a negative impact on the morale of the participants. “The events were not taking place according to schedule. The students had to wait for hours in their costume in this humid conditions for their event to begin. All this affects the performance,” said the parent. In some places, the parents and teachers of participants pointed fingers at the judges’ decisions.
