A student performs at the talent show at Bharti Mandapam in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, March 27: Around 350 students danced to the tunes of popular Bollywood numbers at a mega talent hunt organised by Kumudini Educational-cum-Charitable Trust today on the premises of Bharti Mandapam.

Pupils of Jupiter Coaching Centre, Adarsh Vidya Mandir, DAV Public School, Khagaul, DAV, Balmi, New Horizon Academy School and others danced, painted, debated and wrote essays at the daylong competition.

Jyoti Prakash and Hritvik of BD Public School presented the first performance — a dance to the tunes of Slumdog Millionaire hit number Jai ho. They combined hip-hop with belly dance to deliver an enchanting performance.

Vibha Kumari and Mona Singh infused a traditional flavour in the competition with performance on Maiyya Yashoda from Hum Saath Saath Hain and Mere dholna from Bhool Bhulaiyaa.

Around seven students took part in this competition.

Mona, a Class X student of Stepping Stone Convent, said: “I was a little nervous in the beginning. But I tried to give my best on stage.”

She said though she has had no formal training in dance, she practised by seeing performances on television.

“I am really happy that I prepared for the competition. I hope I win. If I do, I will start taking formal lessons,” she added.

A painting competition was also held today on the theme “environmental pollution”. Students painted the causes and effects of various kinds of pollution on canvas.

Some depicted air pollution through the emission of poisonous gases by factories. Others portrayed sound pollution and the ill-effects of global warming.

Around 25 students took part in the painting competition. Some others wrote down their thoughts on water crisis.

Usha Kumari, the chairperson of Kumudini Educational-cum-Charitable Trust, said: “The main idea behind arranging this competition was to give children of remote areas a fair chance to do something. Apart from the participation of city school students, we tried to accommodate students from remote villages. We have brought such students to our competition.

“It is exciting to see the students take part and compete on a par with the students of the city,” said Usha.

A quiz competition on history, science and current affairs was also organised and 150 students took part in it.

Prabha Kumari, an army major and one of the judges, said: “All children are not equally intelligent. If a child is interested in a particular field, he or she should be encouraged to pursue it. That is much better than forcing them to do something they are not interested in.”

“I was very interested in sports as a child. I was very athletic,” said Usha. She added that parents should always try to support their children in choosing a career. “Encouraging children to take part in extra-curricular activities is good for their overall development,” said Usha.