Music, dance, drama, art and even carpentry — the National Unity Festival held at Kendriya Vidyalaya 1 saw students express their pride in being Indian in every which way.
The festival is held at several levels over several months. Contests took place at the cluster level, after which the winners qualified for the regional round in Salt Lake. Teams were to perform on either the theme “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” or “Kala Utsav”. Under the former, teams from each state were assigned a different state to represent. “For instance, the Bengal teams were to showcase the culture of Bihar. The idea is for students to learn about one another and on the final day, the best from all states will be showcased,” explained Sanjiv Sinha, assistant commissioner of the KV regional office, Calcutta.
Students narrate the story of Chand Sadagar through patachitra
Batting for Bihar
Students of KV IIT Kharagpur presented the Bihari folk dance kajri. “We are performing with live music, including dhol, harmonium and vocals, and highlighting Chhath puja and its rituals such as thekua-making,” said dancer Twinkle Kumari. “Except for one Bihari student, all others on this team are Bengalis, so they are learning a lot,” added their dance teacher, Shreya Pramanik. “I myself have danced before to Bihu of Assam and Ghoomar of Rajasthan, but this was my first brush with kajri. We were encouraged to explore the culture of a neighbouring state and enjoyed it.”
In the Artefact Display contest, the team from KV CRPF Durgapur displayed replicas of Madhubani art, the Vishwa Shanti Stupa and the ancient university of Nalanda. “After our research, we’ve learnt that the library in Nalanda was so rich that when it took the plunderers three months to burn its millions of books,” sighed Sayon Laha. “I wish to visit Nalanda someday and see its remains for myself.”
The host school had qualified in the group song category and chose to perform the Bhojpuri number Koyal bin bagiya na sobhe. “We chose this song as it describes a complete family. Just as a garden feels incomplete without the singing koyal, a home doesn’t feel like one without all its family members,” said Rettika Jha. Twelve girls and one boy, on the dhol, performed it.
India united
Rajannya Das of the host school had qualified in the solo song round but would be singing in the general category. “I’m performing a bandish in raag Yaman. I like this raga as it’s versatile and can showcase many rasas,” said the girl, dressed in a sari. “To represent Indian music, I wanted to dress in Indian attire too.”
Students showcase artefacts and tourist attractions in Bihar
The topic for the drama contest was India’s reformers. “We are showing the life of Kadambini Ganguly, India’s first woman doctor,” said Abhishek Shaw of KV IOC Haldia. “Bipasha Adak plays the doctor, and I play a professor and astrologer who tries to stop women from studying.”
Pritam Sarkar from Durgapur showcased indigenous wooden toy-making. “I had carpentry in Classes VIII and IX and have brought tools to make a pull-along cart,” he said. His teammate, Manotosh Bag, recalled having made a toy for his little sister before. “Wood is organic and durable. Most toys these days are made in China, but if this practice is encouraged, India’s unemployed youth can be better engaged,” he said.
The economy was on the mind of Yogesh Yadav, too. In the visual arts contest, he planned a mixed-media painting on Viksit Bharat. “I’ll show the old India with a bullock cart and the new one with military might, using fighter jets like the Tejas, as well as world champions in sports like Neeraj Chopra. Times are tough now with tariffs from the US and global turmoil, but this is our chance to be self-reliant. I want to paint that we can do it,” said the student from Haldia.
Principal Sabiha Shahin said art enabled us to find and lose ourselves at the same time. “This fest will sharpen the creativity of children and shape the future of the nation. Students here are showcasing not just the heritage of the past but the future of India,” she said.