THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Rain continued to play spoil sport on the third day of Revenue district Kalolsavam. On Wednesday noon, a performance was disrupted at the HSS drama venue for some time as the rain made hearing dialogues difficult for the judges. Apart from these, the city was alive with laughter and excitement of school students criss-crossing between various venues.
So far 250 items have been completed. In HSS category, Thiruvananthapuram North leads with 335 points, followed by Thiruvananthapuram South at 326 points and Kilimanoor at 301 points. In HS category, Thiruvananthapuram South and Thiruvanthapuram North stand neck and neck with 265 and 263 points respectively. Kilimanoor is close third at 251 points. In UP section, Palode topped with 121 points followed closely by Kilimanoor with 120 points, and Kaniyapuram is in the third place with 119 points.
“All are now gearing up for the state level fest. We see exceptional performances from every group and individuals who come here. It goes to show the impact the fest has on students. We have students from poor families competing in dance items which are quite expensive. However, they do it because of the passion and the hunger to win,” said an escorting teacher from Thiruvananthapuram North Sub district.
A contestant who won first place and ‘A’ grade in a team event said there were circumstances where they were mocked for being government school students. “In the sub-district competition our win was undermined and in a classic example of lack of sportsman spirit, some other teams had even verbally abused us. However, our win today proves that the hard work we put in is worth it. I was not familiar with any art forms prior to this opportunity I got. In all honesty, we started to work in it to get away from the classes as a group. However, it has slowly grown on us. This is a great opportunity for students to hone their talents,” she said.
Kalolsavam periscope
Girl power in Nadan Paatu
Girls stole the show at the ‘Nadan Paatu’ venue. Of the 91 contestants from the 13 teams that participated, there were only three boys. The team from St Chrysostom’s GHSS in Nellimoodu secured the first place and will now represent the district at the state level in Kasaragod. The winning team chose the song sung by the potters during their traditional ‘Mariyamman festival’. The judges emphasised on the importance of selecting ‘good songs’. Most of the contestants chose songs from Kannur, Kozhikode, Kasaragod and Malappuram districts. However, the judges pointed out that most of words were wrongly used in many songs. They attributed the mistakes to the performers’ reliance on YouTube or other such social media platforms to learn the songs.
Classical Western combo
Arjun A secured first place in both Triple Jazz and Mridangam this time around. Having represented the district in Ashtapadi at the state level last year and securing first place, Arjun hopes to repeat his success. Interestingly, Arjun has won in both Classical and Western music instrument category. He is coached by Joeboy of Nadabrahma in Vellayambalam and Mridangam by Amaravila Padmakumar. He represents Balaramapuram sub-district at the Revenue district level.