9th Padamshree Naina Devi Talent Contest

Keekli Reporter, 5th October, 2018, Shimla

Loretoites lift the 9th Padamshree Naina Devi Running Trophy as verbal skills, culinary art, artistic flair and musical renditions come to life in Chapslee school!

9th Padamshree Naina Devi Talent ContestA befitting tribute to Padamshree Naina Devi who envisioned and worked to promote art and culture among all, as the management of Chapslee School organized this annual event with much devotion and fervour. The event was graced by School Director Pronati Singh, Principal Sudershan Dogra who were warmly greeted by School Headmistress Kirti Pandey, school staff and the student body. The morning began with the lightening of lamp by Dr Vinay Mohan, Assistant Professor, Govt College, Theog and Dr Inder Thakur, Assistant Professor, Sanjauli College who also presided as the judges for the Declamation and Jhankar contests. Other two judges were Vijaya, HR Head Radisson and Vandana Bhagra, Publisher Keekli Newspaper, who judged the competitions of dry cooking, sketching and photography. The chief guest for the evening was Anuradha Sharma, former Principal DAV School, who gave away the prizes to the winning students.

9th Padamshree Naina Devi Talent ContestOn a nostalgic note Headmistress Kirti Pandey paid homage to Padamshree Naina Devi and Kanwar Ratanjit Singh who believed in giving every opportunity to children to groom them to become better human beings. Naina Devi was a doyen of music and traditional art form “thumri” who broke the shackles of time to express herself through her passion of song and dance. Not only was she an outstanding musician, her dedication to preserving the delicate music forms, including the vanishing folk art, of which she was custodian, was matched equally by her devotion to the dissemination of all art forms. Thus to share their ideas, thoughts, views and expressions through creative art, children are given the opportunity to express themselves artistically either through verbal expression, pen and paper or stage acts every year. The six events lined up for the day were Hindi and English Declamation; Sketching; Photography; Dry Cooking; and Onstage Jhankar, that were judged on various parameters for a fair contest.

9th Padamshree Naina Devi Talent ContestA total of eighteen schools, from Shimla town and the region participated in various competitions — BSN High School, St Edwards, Chapslee, DAV MAS Public School, Gurukul International, Solan, Himalayan International School, Shimla Presidency School, Ivy International, JCB School, KV Jutogh Cantt, Loreto Convent Tara Hall, Mount Shivalik Public School, Rashtriya Military School, Rashtriya Vidya Kendra Kasumpti, SD Sr Sec School, Pinegrove School, Sabathu, Pinegrove School, Dharampur, and DAV New Shimla.

Expressive, valiant and meaningful were children’s views on topics – “Yadi mujhe bhagwan mil jaaye”, “Kya paise se khushi kharidi ja sakti hai”, were for Hindi and “Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destination”, “Spare the rod and spoil the child”, and “Be a flam9th Padamshree Naina Devi Talent Contestingo in a flock of pigeons” were for English declamations. Gone are the days when children’s voices were passive, standing on the stage in front of an audience they boldly articulated and impressed all present. Student’s proved that all they need today is good grooming and they are ready to take on the world with their strong opinions and beliefs.

Creativity comes in all forms. Next was the dry cooking competition, where children were allowed to use only dry food items and within a span of an hour and a half had to make scrumptious and well presented dishes, could be savoury or sweet. The results were amazing as imagine eating a cake that was not baked or a platter of healthy appetizing starters such as a barley bread salad, a pinwheel sandwich, Lord Ganesh’s favourite coconut modaks or a boat chaat, you name9th Padamshree Naina Devi Talent Contest it and the children had their creations ready.

Sketching is an art and bringing your imagination live on paper makes you an artist worthy of praise. The topic given to the students was “Nature is the art of God”, and surely they did justice to their ingenuity as very dexterously and with precision they moved their pencils and hands to make beautiful sketches, thus making it difficult for the judges to do their work. Bringing Autumn alive through pictures was the theme for the Photography competition. The composition, light, exposure and of course a suitable caption made the photographs all the more difficult to judge. But it was sure that the kids knew what they wanted to capture and had an eye for the lense.

The second half of the day saw the stage come alive with Jhankar – song and dance renditions by students just left the audience amazed and mesmerised. Whether it was the folk dances, classical music beats or meaningful mimes, they left a lasting impression on all. (See All Videos)

But as they say that time just flies, so did today; as the day ended on a happy note with winners lifting their prizes high, with a promise to come back again next year to win a couple more with even better performances.  

Proud Winners

English declamation: 1st Pinegrove School Sabathu, Arnav Negi; 2nd Chapslee School Akshit Chauhan; 3rd Loreto Convent Tara Hall Sabhya Kanwar; Consolation –   St. Edward School Shimla Nalin Sharma

Hindi declamation: 1st Chapslee School Samriti Pandey; 2nd SD Sr Sec School Shimla Megha Jaswal; 3rd Loreto Convent Tara Hall Aparika Kaushal; Consolation DAV School Harshita Thakur

Photography: 1st Mount Shivalik Public Shimla Pranjal Sharma; 2nd St. Edward School Shimla Arhant Mahajan; 3rd Himalayan International Vipul Verma; Consolation – Pinegrove Sabathu Ashish Gupta

Sketching: 1st DAV MAS Public School Muskan Mattu; 2nd Loreto Convent Tara Hall         Yukta Bhatti; 3rd B.S.N. High Chakkar School Moh Faizan; Consolation Shimla Presidency Ghanahatti Rishav Sharma

Dry cooking: 1st Loreto Convent Tara Hall – Kudrat Jamwal, Tanvi tangri; 2nd JCB New Shimla – Atasha Chand, Sahrvi Negi; 3rd Ivy International School, Aleen Sharma, Sunidhi Kanear; Consolation – St. Edward, Aryan, Chaitanya

Jhankar: 1st Chapslee School Shimla; 2nd J.C.B; 3rd Loreto Convent Tara Hall, Consolation RVK Kasumpti Shimla

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