Students showcase creativity in collage, cartoon-making contests

Rifat Mohidin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 22

On the third day of the spring festival being organised at the University of Kashmir (KU), students expressed their views on demonetisation and its impact on the common man through cartoon representations.

On Wednesday, two competitions were held— collage making and cartoon making— on the topics “spring and architecture and demonetisation”.

The four-day festival has been organised by the Department of Students Welfare at Gandhi Bhawan where students from degree colleges across the 10 districts of the Valley are taking part. This is the first mega festival held at the University after the last year’s unrest which kept the university closed for five months.

Mehnoor, a student from the SSM College of Engineering and Technology, who took part in the collage making and cartoon competitions, said the festivals in the University helped young people like her come out of the virtual world and do something purposeful.

“It is always good when you meet people from other colleges and universities in such events and share real life experiences. Every competition was very interactive and fruitful,” said Mehnoor, who is pursuing civil engineering.

Shafia, a student from Department of Psychology, University of Kashmir, depicted the positive impact of demonetisation in her cartoons. She said the step had helped curb corruption.

“It was up to us whether we wanted to show the positive or negative impact of demonetisation but I guess it was positive because it helped cleanse the country of black money and helped poor people, though it was difficult initially,” she said.

Junaid Ahmad Dar, a student of Journalism and Mass Communication at the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), said the festival had helped him come out of the laziness of winter and start afresh.

“I took part in collage making, cartoon making and also in debate. It renewed the energy in me for a positive start,” Junaid added.

Shazan Ahmad from Government Degree College, Baramulla, is excited to take part in the debate on the concluding day of the festival tomorrow. It is to be held on the topic ‘Women make better politicians than men’.

“My turn is tomorrow but I will be speaking against the motion,” he said.

The Dean of Department of Students Welfare, Fayaz Ahmad, told The Tribune that more such events will be organised in the future with more focus on youth-related activities.

“This is just the beginning of the year. We will organise more such events in which theatre, music and other activities will be included,” he added.

The four-day fest started on March 20 and will conclude on March 23 when the winners will be declared from all the four days.