A participant makes a sketch of Tagore at the painting competition at Rabindra Parishad in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, May 22: Rabindranath Tagore’s thoughts and works came alive on the canvas today as the Nobel laureate’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations entered its 14th day.

Rabindra Parishad that has planned year-long celebrations for the occasion in collaboration with the state art, culture and youth affairs department had organised a painting competition today. Segregated into two categories — junior (for school students up to Class X) and senior, more than 1,000 school students took part in the event with enthusiasm.

While the senior participants captured Tagore on the canvas with their life-size paintings, the younger ones portrayed the most recurring theme in Tagore’s works — nature.

The organisers were happy with the turnout at the event, as people reached the venue at the scheduled time of 9am. “We are very pleased with the response of the participants in Patna district for the painting competition. In spite of the schools being closed for summer vacation, we have received quite a good response from the children and their parents. I hope we get the same response when these competitions are organised in other districts of the state,” said Sandip Roy, the co-convener of the programme.

Students of St Karen’s High School, St Joseph’s High School, St Paul’s High School and DAV Public School had turned up for the competition among others.

Provas Roy, the general secretary of Rabindra Parishad and convener of the programme, said the theme for the competition for the junior and senior categories had been decided keeping in mind the Tagore’s thoughts, works and life. The main idea behind the competition was to connect the students with the Tagore’s life, said Provas.

If the senior students captured Tagore beautifully in their sketches, the juniors let their imagination flow on paper. The little ones, students of classes II to V, portrayed village scenes in detail. A farmer ploughing his field, women carrying water-filled pots on their heads, the sun arising amid the mountains, buffaloes grazing the fields — the paintings had it all as the participants experimented with colours and media.

Anirban Krishna, 8, a student of DAV Public School, said: “I tried to capture the village scene in my painting and drew a village surrounded by huts and trees as a farmer ploughs his field.”

Anirban’s mother, Jayashree Lahiri, said: “It is nice to see that Patna is hosting such festivals. We really need this kind of environment to boost our children’s interests. These events give them a scope to explore their imagination that is very important for their overall development.”

On selecting the theme for the competition, Provas said: “It took a lot of time for us to decide the theme of the competition. For this competition, we thought of incorporating Tagore as a whole and took up his favourite subject — nature. So, this painting competition is all about him and his ideas.”

Explaining the theme for the younger students, Provas said: “In category A, for students of classes preparatory to I, the theme was “As you like”. The reason behind this was Tagore believed children should not have any kind of barriers. In category B (classes II to V), the participants were asked to paint a village scene, as Tagore had established Visva-Bharati University in a remote village. Students of classes VI to VIII (category C) had riverside as their theme. Tagore had established his university by the riverside considering the value of water. For category D (classes IX to X) participants, the topic was ecology and environment. This theme gave a glimpse into Tagore’s life and thoughts, as most of his writings are full of poignant descriptions of nature.”

Prithvi Ranjan, a student of NIT, Ahmedabad, was one of the participants in the senior category. He drew a life-size painting of Tagore and was happy to see that the state capital is full of life.

“The city is progressing over the years. I have never seen such elaborate celebrations before.”