Patna Women’s College students perform at the Shravani dance competition organised at the college auditorium and (below) mothers of Tender Hearts International High School students walk the ramp during the Saawan Mahotsava on the school premises on Thursday. Pictures by Nagendra Kumar Singh and Sachin

Patna, July 28: The month of Saawan is associated with song, dance and celebrations in India. Keeping with the tradition, students as well as young mothers of Patna stepped on to the stage in colourful costumes and entertained the spectators with their performances.

While the students of Patna Women’s College performed during the Shravani dance competition organised at the college auditorium today, mothers of children studying at Tender Hearts International High School, Patna City, hit the ramp during the “Saawan Mahotsava”, a event organised on the school premises.

Girls of Patna Women’s College donned traditional costumes and performed on folk songs during the competition.

Sister Doris D’Souza, the principal of Patna Women’s College, released Headway, the annual journal of the mass communication department, before the competition began.

The students danced in groups on songs welcoming monsoon. Group I danced on More ghar na barash, Group II on Hari hari choodiyan, Group III on Kaise khele jaibu, Group IV on Baaje payalio, Group V on Rimjhim barsat and Group VI on the tune of Kare badra.

The audience gave a standing ovation to the performance on Ghar na barash.

Sister Doris distributed the prizes. The third position was shared by groups IV and VI, the second prize went to Group V. Group II clinched the winning trophy. Kriti, a member of the winning team, was thrilled to win the first prize. She said: “We rehearsed for two weeks and finally our hard work paid off, I am really very happy.”

Sneha, a member of the audience, was overwhelmed with the performance of her classmates. She said: “I am proud of my classmates who have won the first prize. They worked hard for this dance competition. Right from selecting the costumes to the song to the steps, they worked in detail on everything. It feels amazing that their perseverance and hard work of two weeks has been appreciated by everyone.”

All performances were applauded with equal energy as the hall was jam-packed with students and teachers.

Kriti said: “It was a memorable event for us as we had put in all our efforts to make it an entertaining programme. We worked on minute details like positions, postures, music, sound and costumes. All members in the group took their roles seriously and performed brilliantly.”

“We will make sure that we perform like this in all other competitions in future and come out with flying colours,” said the winning group members in unison.

Sister Doris said: “It was a brilliant show and everyone enjoyed the programme. Saawan is the month when nature expresses itself in abundance, everything seems bright just like the costumes of the participants, which were red, green, yellow, though green was in abundance.”

She added: “The state has been witnessing less rainfall and farmers are suffering. I pray there is rain in abundance this year and we get good yield.”

She wished everyone good health and thanked the students for making the event so beautiful.

Mothers’ day out

If the young students at Patna Women’s College brought the stage alive with their costumes and performances, the mothers of students of Tender Hearts International High School were not far behind.

A close competition was witnessed among young women taking the ramp in green clothes during the Saawan Mahotsava, organised at the school today.

Clad in green sari and eye-catching jewellery, Varsha Choraria, mother of a Montessori student, was declared the “Saawan Queen” on the occasion. Answering a question on who (mother or teacher) plays a more important role in the development of a child, Choraria said: “Be it a mother or a teacher, both are important in the development of a child but the teacher plays the more important role. A mother can sometimes be lenient with the child and the child can take advantage of that, but a teacher is strict when needed and this is required for the all-round development of a child.”

Ruchi Behal and Nitu, both mothers of Montessori students, were declared the first and second runners-up respectively. Behal, a homemaker, said, “This is the first time that I have participated in such an event. I am happy I won it.”