Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 30 Oct: As part of the Virasat Mahotsav organised by REACH, a ‘Sit and Draw’ competition was held for school students on Friday. Students from 13 schools enthusiastically participated in the competition. Along with them, a large number of participants also arrived at the venue and took part in the event. A total of 275 participants participated in the competition. The theme was ‘My City and Nature’. Through this theme, students were given an opportunity to express their thoughts about their city, its surroundings, natural beauty and the environment through paintings. Using colours and their imagination, the children beautifully brought their ideas to life on paper.
Students from Small Bells (Multi Activity Hub), Doon Presidency School, St. Jude’s School, Brooklyn School, Doon Sarla Academy, PM Shri Government Girls Inter College (Aasraa Trust), Flyfot Public School, Doon International School City Campus, Shri Guru Ram Rai Public School Balawala, Gyananda School for Girls, Delhi Public School Vikasnagar, Army Public School Clement Town and Welham Boys’ School participated in the competition with great enthusiasm and excitement.
Joining hands with Virasat Mahotsav for the first time, ‘Valley of Words’ presented a special event titled ‘VOW at Virasat’, today, at the Himalayan Cultural Centre, Dehradun. Through literature, poetry, book discussions and music, the event provided a special platform to the rich literary traditions of Uttarakhand and Hindi literature.
The programme began with a welcome address by Sachin Chauhan. This was followed by a special discussion on Rajkumar Panwar’s book ‘Ab Hua Savera’ with Someshwar Pandey.
A special session was also organised on the complete poetic works of renowned Hindi lyricist Buddhinath Mishra. On the occasion of the completion of 25 years of the state of Uttarakhand, a special discussion was held on the book ‘25 Years of Uttarakhand’. The book’s editor, Sanjeev Chopra, and co-editor, Gandharv Gopal Joshi, engaged in a conversation with Rajlaxmi Dutta. The session was chaired by Manoj Barthwal.
This was followed by a Hindi poetry session in which Shruti Vats, Someshwar Pandey and Bharati Mishra recited their poems. The session was conducted by Sachin Chauhan and chaired by Buddhinath Mishra.
The programme concluded with a musical presentation of songs by the legendary Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi, performed by Abhinav Tyagi.
On the occasion, Festival Director Dr. Sanjeev Chopra said, “The coming together of Valley of Words and Virasat is like the confluence of two streams.” He described this collaboration as an important initiative for literature, culture and creative expression.
