Kids' painting show with focus on culture

GUWAHATI: A three-day painting exhibition with 'Our Culture, Our Identity' as a subject began at Sarusajai stadium on Thursday. The event is organized by Baal Kala Sangam, an organisation dedicated to foster love for their culture amongst children. More than 1,000 school children from the eight northeastern states and its interior regions participated in the event.
"The motto of the event was 'baccho ke haath baccho ke saath'. We want to foster a spirit of mutual understanding and brotherhood between the children belonging to different states and also arouse their love for art and culture. We believe the children will grow up to be good citizens. This is the first time such an event has been organized," said Bimal Lath, president of Saanskar Bharati Poorvuttar.
The 1,100 meters white canvas provided to the children resembled a large coiled snake that was soon engulfed by different colours provided by the organizers. The children were given more than 70 litres of paint and the young artists seemed quite happy as they played with myriad colours, showing their inner inclination in bringing about some change in this world through their depiction of rolling landscapes, village scenes, ethnic cultures, flowers, abstracts, Bhupen Hazarika, popular landmarks, and others that represented culture or identity.
A young Manipuri school student's painting depicted his desire for peace in a region torn by strife.
Bib Dolma, a class eight student from Sikkim said, "I am painting a landscape with some industries in the background through which I want to convey the message of global warming and pollution." Dolma is part of the 46 students group who has come from Sikkim.
Teukambe Pame, a Naga student studying in class 6 painted a traditional Morung hut highlighting his community's culture and tradition, and similarly Dibyajyoti Gogoi from Lakhimpur painted a portrait of Sankar Dev on the white canvas.
"For a better and peaceful universe, children are an essential element as they don't carry any prejudices. As this region is prone to violence, we need to create a new and safer future in which the children will be able to make a difference and for this, a continuous process is required. We at Sanskar Bharati understand that," said Pranjal Saikia, working president of Sanskar Bharati and a noted Assamese actor.