Festival of colours at Heggadahalli Govt. High School

The beautiful campus

The Dasara holidays are one of the most engaging days for the kids in Mysore city. They have ample opportunities to get themselves keep busy. Every The state celebration at Mysore would offer a variety of options to indulge in. From adventure sports to music and literature, you have an activity for every budget. With distant cousins at home, visiting to the city to see the fair itself take away all the time. If you could bear the maddening crowd and manage the miseries of public transport or chocked traffics city strolling is free. There are a lot of things to buy and junk

food to eat on every possible street.

Santhosh and his happy children

Children in the surrounding are not deprived either. Over the years Dasara festivities have extended into neighboring taluks and districts even. Folk performances are held and mock Dasara procession is held to encourage the traditional art forms. For a couple of days these towns are involved in the festival without any fan fare. Small villages are beyond the reach of any of these developments. People there only see what happens at Dasara on their television sets. While Mysore, in the name of decking up for the State festival spend crores of rupees on masonry works of cosmetic order. The real brunt of Dasara is faced by the rural masses that have no role to play in this state run ‘tamasha’. All they see is one or two extra trips of the state run public transport which bears a board ‘Dasara special’ and charge an extra rupee or two! People in many such villages have never seen Dasara festival in their life; in fact many people in tribal hamlets of Heggada Devana Kote have not even seen their taluk head quarters that is just about ten Kilometers away.

Bird showcase

Heggadahalli is one such village ten kilometers from the temple town of Nanjangud. A drive through the beautiful country side on the recently tarmac ked road to Hullalli takes you through the lush green paddy fields. Just behind a nondescript village bus stop you see a Govt. High school with a vast play field adorned by a couple of large pepal tree. A small shrine of the medieval times is revered by the local community and invites a large number of deities who camp here for a night on their pilgrimage on foot to Mahadeshwara hills.

Making use of this beautiful setting is Santosh Gudiangadi the Drama teacher in the school. He has single handedly taken up a four days cultural workshop for children of the schools. His intention is to keep the children engaged in constructive activities during the vacation and expose them to art, theatre, literature and Nature. His perseverance with his head master and the parents had rewarded him overwhelmingly. This talented Ne Na Sam graduate has changed the complexion of the school through a theatre club named after Myna bird. There is a Javagal Srinath Sports club and an eco club which had their activities colorfully displayed on the walls of the classroom. His organizational skills and calligraphy has attracted children and the teachers alike. He sings and writes and mobilizes a monthly student magazine that has created an inclination for literature among children. The magazine reaches near by schools and the students are doubly proud of themselves. Some of the poetry has found space in the children’s columns of Prajavani a leading Kannada daily.

Santhosh Gudinangadi

Through this four days workshop he intends to bring in eminent persons in the field of science and literature to inspire his students. Dr. Anand V Patil, Asst. Director of All India Radio Mysore, veteran Science writer Nagesh Hegde , theatre person Mandya Ramesh, and Khanji artist Husaini  were part of the invitees. Spending the whole day with these cheerful kids gave me different insights into the tangential worlds people live in. Cultural events are being show cased upon gaudily decked up stages in every corner in Mysore, many of them with very poor turn out. The media manages to fix their view point only on what is happening on the stage. This village school Dasara to me shows hope, it promises to nurture future artists of this state.