KOLLAM: With the Israel-Palestine conflict dominating international headlines, it was only natural that the issue found resonance in the English skit competition for the higher secondary section on the final day of the 62nd Kerala School Kalolsavam.
The performance of students of BSS Gurukulam HSS, Alathur, Palakkad, was widely noted at the festival as they adopted a satirical approach to the West Asia conflict, with a strong appeal for peace at the end. A rooster that strays from a Jewish home into a neighbouring Muslim household triggers a fight between women. Their husbands join in. Soon, hard-liners from both ends descend and turn it into a major conflict. Finally, the neighbours realise their folly and vow to speak and smile more to each other.
Two of the 19 teams that performed chose the theme ‘Great political circus’ that depicted how politicians were taking common people for a ride. References to a political leader who gets irritated when the mic develops a snag and a case being registered against the mic operator for the fiasco, left the audience in splits. Of course, there were no prizes for guessing which recent incident was being portrayed.
A train bearing a striking resemblance to the newly-launched Vande Bharat train found a place in a skit by students of St Teresa’s HSS, Vazhappally, that dealt with ‘freebie politics’ set in an imaginary constituency named ‘Bharathapuram’. The ‘explanation’ given by a political leader on why fuel prices were on the high vis a vis the international crude oil price, evoked memories of a widely-trolled sound byte of a union minister from Kerala a few years ago on the same topic.
Exploitation of the common man by corporates and oppression of women were themes that found mention in most skits.
“In terms of the plot selection, presentation and team work, we could see a huge improvement in standards this time,” said one of the judges. As many as 15 teams were awarded ‘A’ grade. While skits depicting sale of national assets, curbs on art and imposition of a particular language on people by the ‘King of Utopia’ were noted for their oblique political references, a few others stood out for the uniqueness of themes. Notable among them was the skit that dealt with the dog Laika, the first living creature to orbit earth and the response of the ‘canine world’ to the historic event.
Through intelligent use of props, the students of St Mary’s CGHSS, Ernakulam, recreated Laika in space, with each performer enacting distinct characteristics of popular breeds of the “domesticated canine community.”