The digital world shows how beautiful nature was before we were born. Now we experience the deterioration of our mother nature. Every human being must protect the environment that gives life. Children, the architects of a newer world can give wings to their ideas and imaginations and come up with innovations. They have better perception and are confident of their potentialities to craft a modern world with a traditional eco-friendly value system.

Kanyakumari Social Service Society (KKSSS), constantly motivated and encouraged by Caritas India Manager Dr.John Arokiaraj, organised a painting and poster competition for school children on the 21st of November, 2019. The event was named Varnam meaning colour and the topic was ‘ Be with Nature’. The main focus of this programme was to promote the skills of students, develop their creativity, inculcate awareness about environment protection and to enhance Students Social Responsibility (SSR).

The sprawling Aseer Auditorium at Kalluviali itself was colourful as students in their unique school attire brought in a variety of colour combinations. A total of 648 students including 342 girls representing 36 schools spread across the district of Kanyakumari were attracted by this competition. This one-hour competition categorized the students into two groups; Painting for 4th to 6th standard on the topic ‘Children and environment’ and Poster designing for 7th to 9th Standard students on the topic ‘Be with Nature’.

“I could personally experience the beauty of nature seen through the eyes of children,” said Ms.Sheeba, the Project Manager and key person assisting Fr.Saji Elambasseril, Director of KKSSS who had organised this mega event. Fr.Saji added that such types of healthy competitions rekindle the thinking of young minds and pave way for building a healthy society. KKSSS could become part of national-level Caritas- EDN campaign and State level Ezhuvom Iyakkam both of which focus on healthy nature and life.

The paintings of the budding artists are a good treat for eyes and were tempting to nature lovers. Starting from a single rose flower to the dense Western Ghats the paintings included innumerable varieties not to miss out on the eye-catching blue seawater. It is left to the imagination of the viewers to conclude whether the sea is Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea or the Indian Ocean as Kanyakumari district enjoys the privilege of being the only point in the world where three seas converge.

It was a herculean task to select the winners from among the hundreds of mastery artworks that echoed their imaginations much beyond the imagination of organisors. The paintings looked super real. Some of the works brought real-life situations in front of the eyes. Few of the students who could foresee the future if the present trend continues brought out an alarming picture before our eyes to begin the rectification and rejuvenation mission. Participants seemed to be enjoying all colours of nature that are created with a purpose. It was reflected in their paintings.

Green and blue were the colours that were predominantly used indicating that protection and nurturing of land and water is their prime agenda.   

“Drawings are the best source of inspiration and bring out the creativity in oneself” observed a prize-winning student. Fr. Maria Rajendran who distributed prizes to the winners appreciated the efforts of KKSSS in building student movement through the art forum. One could only feel the joy of students surrounding the entire auditorium. The event was also marked by the aura of Kalari folk arts team that performed a cultural programme for the children on the topic ‘Environment protection’.