A group of students perform Mohiniyattam during a cultural procession ahead of the formal inauguration of the Kerala State School Arts Festival in Kannur on Monday. | Photo Credit: S_K_MOHAN more-in There was a spread of colour and culture on the streets of the city as a pageantry of students, capturing the diversity of the land and featuring social issues, was held as part of a procession ahead of the formal opening of the Kerala State School Arts Festival here on Monday. The event also turned many heads, as the public lined the streets in large numbers to watch the colourful spectacle. The pageantry that started from near St. Michael’s Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School here in the afternoon made its way from Fort Road to Railway Station and to Stadium Road before entering Police Maidan, the main venue, where the grand opening ceremony marked the beginning of the 57th edition of the festival. The procession, headed by Ports Minister and organising committee chairman Kadannappally Ramachandran, had a medley of marching school students donning colourful costumes of dance forms like Mohiniyattam, Thiruvathira, Kerala Natanam, Bharatanatyam and Oppana. Some also featured traditional attires of Odisha, Gujarat, Manipur, Kashmir and Assam, among others. Singer Sayanora Philip was among the dignitaries who joined the procession. Different schools The marchers were from different schools in the district, accompanied by contingents of the other districts participating in the fete. The pageants also included display of martial arts, Sufi dance, floats depicting moments of national struggle, Pazhassi Raja’s struggle against the British, and legendary warrior Unniyarcha mentioned in the Vadakkan Pattukal. Students enacting characters of Malayalam novels ‘Chemmeen’ (Thakazhi), ‘Pathummayude Aadu’ (Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer) and ‘Randamuzham’ (M.T. Vasudevan Nair) gave a literary stamp to the procession. The pageantry that lasted nearly three hours also highlighted social issues including water scarcity, environmental degradation, violence against women, rash driving, plastic menace and corruption, among others. The event also affected traffic on major roads of the city in the afternoon.

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