‘ISKCON Heritage Fest’ from tomorrow

THE HINDU » NATIONAL » KARNATAKA
HUBLI, July 5, 2012

15,000 schoolchildren to participate in the 12-day event

As many as 15,000 students from various schools in Hubli and Dharwad will participate in 30 contests to be held as part of the 12-day “ISKCON Heritage Fest” from July 2.

The president of ISKCON Hubli-Dharwad, Rajiv Lochan Dasa, told presspersons here on Saturday that the heritage fest which would go on till July14 was open to students of government, aided, and unaided schools in the twin cities and there was no entry fee.

The competition of Indian heritage-based events will be held on the ISKCON Temple premises located at Rayapur.

He said that the mega cultural festival would not only be a convergence of cultural contests, but also a cherished event which endeavoured to bridge the cultural divide in the era of tech-frenzy and stressed life of children. “From conventional events such as rangoli, chanting of the Bhagvad Gita, Vedic quiz, flower arrangement, folk dance, mono-acting, and classical music and dance, there would be elocution, essay writing, painting, sketching, and story telling to help students to bring out the creativity in them,” he said.

50 trophies

He said that the winners of the contest would get 300 gold, silver, and bronze medals, mementoes, and 50 trophies. The overall champion would also get a rolling trophy, he said. In addition, special mementoes will be given to schools with maximum participation and teachers who trained the winning students.

The competitions will be held in four categories namely LKG to UKG, Class one to four, Class five to eight, and Class 9 and 10. Hubli-Dharwad Mayor, Pandurang Patil, will inaugurate the fest on July 2 at 10.30 a.m.

To a query, he said that the Rs. 50 crore project on building an ISKCON Temple on the lines of the one in Bangalore would be initiated in August.

“We will have the foundation laying ceremony for the new ISKCON Temple on August 5,” he said.

He said that as of now, ISKCON had been able to mobilise around Rs. 50 lakh and had opened special counters to collect donations from devotees for the purpose.