“His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly's wings. At one time he understood it no more than the butterfly did and he did not know when it was brushed or marred.”

- Ernest Hemingway

     The fest began on 21st July. The pleasant weather joined hands with the excited students to celebrate the official opening of Kalakumbh. The students were first taken to the school auditorium where the entertaining dancers from the event Group Dance made their mark on the stage with their happy, contagious expressions and moves which made the audience gasp and hoot in admiration.

     Then began cookery. This year’s topic was salads and as the contestants mixed ingredients and cut the healthy vegetables, they still made students lean against the windows of the room they were cooking in, to sample the scent of the delicious aroma. While the eleventh hour of cookery began participants of creative writing explored the fantasies and fiction that made all children beloved to hear and put them on paper.

     This year’s new event introduced in Kalakumbh was Group Sculpture and many artists and innovative thinkers created magnificent carvings and small, dainty sculptures with materials ranging from clay to watermelons. Kannada Antakshari was a success in which so many contestants shared the joy and enjoyment that bounded them as they strove and perused their minds for the details of songs and their movies.

     However, the much entertaining event Mad Ads eclipsed everything else with their humour and witticism. Crowded with an irrepressible audience too excited to stay meek, the auditorium was soon filled with laughter and fun. The Group Song event was the last event of the day and it successfully brought about peace in the hearts of the listeners in a way that only the sweetest music can achieve.

     The second day of Kalakumbh began with Web designing where students had to create a website on endangered species. It gave way to awareness of animal treatment and also tested the students’ ways around a computer. Followed by this was face painting where the group of participants attempted to replicate the tribes of the world on the faces of fellow students. Spell Bee wove its own way down to the list of successful events as participants clicked and searched their memories for the correct spellings. Students unleashed their persuasive beliefs and ideals in English Debate and revealed to the school their talent.

     Hindi Antakshari and Dumb Charades were both equally entertaining with the former’s collective enthusiasm and fun-filled songs and the latter’s silent communicative abilities. Shloka Recitation proved the students’ devotion to God and their dedication in reciting shlokas in honour of Him or Her. The last event of Kalakumbh was quiz and it certainly did justice to the fest. With questions that turned the contestants’ brain upside down as they fumbled through the vast expanse of their knowledge, the event proved to be most engaging.

     Kalakumbh 2011 was an inarguable success through and through and proved that the Kumaranites are indeed the talent and hope that they appear to be. However, its success couldn’t be owed only to the students, but also to the dedicated teachers, the alumni who were kind enough to organize some of the events and also the judges who came to the school especially to grade our talent. Kalakumbh was, truly, the joining of talent, creativity and the knowledge acquired from going to Sri Kumaran Public School.