Poomaram (പൂമരം)

'Festival'

'Mahatma University Youth Festival'

Gauthaman, how are the preparations for the youth festival progressing?

lt starts tomorrow, right?

Maharaja's will win the cup this time, dad.

No doubt about that.

May that happen!

The students who are participating,

they are interested in the arts, beyond the competitions, right?

They are interested.

But while going for the arts festival, the main plan is to win the prize somehow.

What's that plan?

These competitions always have outdated formats, right?

We should follow it correctly.

What do you mean by outdated?

By outdated, l mean..

Judges are following the rules from 3040 years back,

from the time the arts festival came into being.

While announcing the results, judges go up on stage 8 give speeches;

that there's nothing new.

But the prize will be declared traditionally.

- Do you have any di_erence of opinion, dad? - No.

l just asked..

There was that notebook which had Da Vinci's anatomical sketches, right?

Did you bring it back after Iending it to your friend?

He is participating for sculpture. He said he'll return it after that.

Da Vinci and Michelangelo;

during their times, with not as many facilities;

to study anatomy,

they would obtain unclaimed corpses with the help of some priests;

They used to study them by examining the bodies under candle-light,

secretly at night.

That's the strength of their work.

For example, Da Vinci's Mona Lisa;

Michelangelo's David, Pieta and Moses;

lf they are existing even now, it's the strength oftheir study.

Notjust that, even Shakespeare is a contribution of the renaissance period.

There's no one to top Shakespeare. Ultimate!

What about Kalidas from India?

True. That too, in the 5th Centuy.

A 1000 years before Shakespeare.

So Kalidas, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Rafael and Shakespeare;

l think you feel that they are outdated.

lt's just a doubt of mine.

l understood where you're going with this, dad.

J Well

ifwe consider the time period of 1500 or 1000 or even 500 years;

the 30 or 40 years you mentioned earlier;

is it really that outdated?

When you asked me about the youth festival,

l just meant that there's no freedom for new interpretations,

in the youth festivals happening now.

That's what l'm also saying;

ifyou have a precise idea about the art form you're going to pe_orm,

and ifyou have the craft;

you will be able to create what you intend to.

But if you want to bring it to life;

you must inject your souls into it.

And that's the exact advise you should be giving your friends, as a chairman.

Whatever they are going to do,

they should understand its soul and do it.

Mahatma University Youth Festival - Festival 2016,

will commence at Ernakulam tomorrow.

At 5 PM tomorrow, film star Meera Jasmine, will inaugurate the festival.

From around 300 colleges,

Stop it, kiddo.

Around 3000 students are participating in the competition.

Around 72 art forms will be pe_ormed at 7 stages.

You've applied only for poety writing, right?

You could have applied for painting and clay modelling as well.

You wasted the chance to be the overall winner.

Great. Nowl feel that even poety writing was unnecessay.

Ya right! You would've been 1st in all three.

Why do you feel so?

We have competitions at all stages. l've to run around, right?

l'm tensed whether l would be able to write something in peace.

So you're saying that you need to be at peace to write poety?

- Haven't you read Byron's poems? - George Gordon Byron.

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and stary skies.

Byron didn't write these for competitions.

Lord Byron. Right, dad?

Yes. Lord Byron.

This wasn't for a competition.

But l'll recite a poem which Byron wrote for a competition.

While he was young,

he participated in a poety writing competition like this.

The topic given was about Christ turning water into wine.

So eveyone else was writing.

Byron was restless, like you said.

He wasn't able to write anything. The time was up.

Finally when the examiner was about to snatch the paper from him;

he wrotejust one line and gave it.

Just one line.

J Water met its master

and blushed.

J Water met its master

blushed and turned red.

Saying that water met its master;

l don't think anyone can describe God in a more beautiful way.

And water blushed;

lt blushed in shame and turned red.

He's talking about water turning into wine.

This is poety, isn't it?

How long you wrote for;

how much you wrote;

none of this matter.

What matters is what you write.

l wish l could write even one line like that in my lifetime.

Try your luck. We should win the cup this time.

That's for sure!

The fund is a concern.. Please talk to Manojettan.

l've told him. Haven't you told dad?

Dad, we expect a strong support from you.

You can expect all the support and aid,

staying within the constraints of a retired teacher.

That's enough, dad.

Howabout the collection of the rest of the donations? - Progressing strongly.

'Youth Festival Fund'

Do you rememberthe year we won the cup forthe first time, teacher?

We won the championship for the first time in '93.

Until then, no one had won it except St. Treesa College.

Back then, the students were excited as ifthey were going to break into a fort.

lt was like, that fort stood there because we never made up our minds to break it.

Bharathan Sirwas the principal back then.

Chairman was Rajeev Ravi.

Then Abhilash;

Abhilash was in full form, to compete and to organize eveything.

We were leading right from the beginning.

We won the championship with almost double the points.

We were adamant that we would never lose it thereaRer.

Then for two years, whileAmal Neerad was the chairman; we maintained it.

But we lost it for 2 years afterthat.

After that,

in '98,

when EG Ratheesh was the chairman;

it was the time when the youth festival returned to Ernakulam.

Abhilash died just 2 months before that.

We received the trophy in his name here that year.

ln the following years,

whoever won the championship, won it only by putting up a strong fight.

ln bemeen, apart from us and St. Treesa College;

Music College also came into the picture.

l remember, in 2000; whileAashiq Abu was the chairman;

lt was a vey tense competition since the beginning;

Our children pe_ormed group dance vey well;

But immediately after the pe_ormance, they ran backstage and started wailing loudly.

Saying that they made some mistake.

The prize was announced while they were cying;

The first prize was for us; and we won the championship as well.

So just like they cried with grief;

they cried uncontrollably withjoy as well.

The other day, while l was talking to Gauthaman;

just like whatAbhilash and Rajeev had back then;

l felt the energy of a heart which is not ready to fail, within him.

You have so many memories of so many years in Maharaja's, right teacher?

l've felt that these memories are always with me, at many instances.

But we needn't return to those memories;

And we should not be trapping you with our nostalgia as well.

lt's not like '93 is going to repeat this time.

lfthe task back then was breaking into a fort in front of us;

today l think your victoy would be in finding something,

that you don't knowor that you haven't found so far.

Anyway, the crown will be ours!

'To make a flower blossom here one day, l planted this tree'

'To make a flower blossom here one day, l planted this tree'

'To spread a fire here one day, l planted my eyes'

'Lonely windows'

'Empty verandahs'

'Lonely windows'

'Empty verandahs'

'l planted myself here as well'

'To make a flower blossom here one day, l planted this tree'

'We, who hoped to learn Whether the rain had fallen mute'

'We, who hoped to learn Whether the rain had fallen mute'

'We, who as winter's leaves, wished to wither and fall into the mind ofthe land'

'Sometime when the rain had vanished, someplace where the sun had dozed off'

'Sometime when the rain had vanished, someplace where the sun had dozed off'

'We sat, at a finger's length apart, in the sand'

'On the shaded paths, we whispered like the wind that we would be here'

'On the shaded paths, we whispered like the wind that we would be here'

'ln place ofthe feathers of memoy, That soar high as beating wings'

'We are as leaves lying on this earth, Reminiscing about the rain'

'We are as leaves lying on this earth, Reminiscing about the rain'

'Now, until summer Iet's sit with our fingers inte!rtwined'

'To make a flower blossom here one day, l planted this tree'

'Poomaram'

Call the guests and confirm the time they're leaving.

Once the procession starts tomorrow, the whole town will be blocked.

lfthey get stuck in the block, the guests may not be able to reach on time.

So in today's sub-committee meeting, we should assign the people for that.

We have a committee meeting in the evening, right?

Let's give proper instructions then.

Shaan, what about the flags to be held by union members forthe procession?

lt's all okay.

-Aren't you following up on Meera Jasmine? -Yes. It's confirmed.

They are film stars. Ifthey don't turn up, it will be a disgrace for all of us.

No. No confusions. l had called her.

Did St. Treesa college bring the trophy?

- No. Not yet. - They didn't?