Sri Krishna vesha competition to take place online

Mangaluru: From purely local to national to global—this summarises the way in which Sri Krishna vesha competition— that Kalkura Foundation is organising on September 10, will pan out this year. A simple event of getting young children to dress in the likeness of Lord Krishna, that started 35 years ago in Kadri area of the city with eight children, will go global, given the dictates of the new normal that the world lives in due to the pandemic.
Organised with the intention to develop religious and cultural awareness and to highlight hidden talents in children, the foundation has been organising this event in the city for the past 35 years. A big ticket event that people across faiths awaited eagerly, which used to be held at the Sri Manjunatha Temple precincts in Kadri, has been moved online with individual homes replacing the dozen-odd stages set up at the temple for the event.
The foundation has created 30 Gmail ids for as many categories it has announced this year, with ‘Vriksha Krishna’ and ‘Thottila Krishna’ being the latest additions to the list of competition categories. Contestants should email videos not exceeding 3 minutes to the respective category email id on or before September 7. A panel of judges will shortlist 10-15 winners per category, and these will be woven into the live telecast of the event on September 10.
Pradeep Kumar Kalkura, president of the foundation, said the core organising committee debated about cancelling the event which has been held successfully for the past 3 decades, this year, to organising it with a limited number of people at the temple. With the medical fraternity advising against the latter choice due to the prevalent situation, the entire event will take place online, and will give an opportunity for people to create Kadri Rajangana in their homes, he said.
“The new competition categories – Vriksha Krishna and Thottila Krishna—will give a fillip to environmental conservation and recreate the family atmosphere of an infant frolicking in a crib, to mellifluous tunes of lullaby,” said Kadri Navaneeth Shetty, the organiser of the event. The first category requires one to plant a sapling donning Krishna costume, and latter to capture antics of a toddler in a crib, he said. The new format will enable people to participate globally, he noted. Call: 9845083736/0824-2492239.