Rich Kerala culture under spotlight at Malarvadi festival

Ten thousand expatriate Indian families attended a festival here recently to educate youngsters on the rich culture of Kerala.
Malarvadi, an organization for Indian children, organized the event at Durra compounds outside Jeddah. “The festival was held to mark the conclusion of a series of programs organized by Malarvadi Baalasangam in 2014 to create awareness among expatriate kids on Kerala’s unique culture, language, literature, political landscape and social values,” said Sajid Ahmed, an official of the organization.
“In this age of the mass massacre of regional languages and fast diminishing of social values and heritage, these Malarvadi programs are viewed as a noble and timely venture,” Ahmed told Arab News.
Chief guest Sree Devi, principal of Al-Wurood International School, highlighted the amazing capabilities of the children and urged parents to give them support to develop their skills. “We should also set a good example for children with our lives to become their role models.”
Mohammed Najeeb, chief patron of Malarvadi, highlighted the organization’s efforts in developing the leadership qualities of children, fostering moral values and promoting communal harmony.
Abdul Shakoor Ali, president of Thanima (north zone), urged parents to encourage their children to participate in Malarvadi programs. “They will definitely learn a lot of useful things from its programs, which they do not learn at school.”
The festival had three projects for the children. The first one they had to do during their holidays, requiring the drawing up of a family tree, creating a collage of regional newspapers, preparing news on themselves, and writing a letter of observation on the preservation of nature. “More than 1,000 kids submitted very colorful and creative projects,” said Haider Ali, another official.
In the second project, students sat for a written examination based on a booklet that was prepared and distributed by the organization. The booklet was rich in content with comprehensive information on culture, literature, politics, traditional arts, sports and other specialties of Kerala. Approximately 5,000 copies were distributed all over the Kingdom, he said.
“Top scorers of the written exam were selected for a live quiz show in the third and final phase which was exceptionally attractive with presentations of Kerala’s traditional dances and other art forms by budding kids,” said Sajid Ahmed.
Olippil Niaz, headmaster at Al-Wurood School for boys, and Shameem Jaleel led the finale of quiz programs for junior and sub-junior students. A drama written and directed by Shamsuddin won applause as it depicted the visit of a Saudi businessman to Kerala in a humorous way.