Students sketch portraits of freedom fighters

Chennai, Aug 14 (UNI) Ushering in the 60th Independence Day in a unique style, 60 students of a private school here today sketched the portraits of 60 freedom fighters in Rangoli to etch their names in the Limca Book of Records.

Braving hot sun, fifty girls and ten boys of ninth and eleventh standard students of Velammal matriculation Higher Scondary School in Mogappair, sketched the Rangoli in a 10,560 sq ft area to commemorate the 60th Independence Day.

The previous record for largest Rangoli was in the name of NGO Anandam of Chennai on April 2005. That rongoli, looking like a sari measured 233 x 40 (9,320 sq ft). The sari had a yellow border with elephant motifs and the pallu had Lord shiva on a chariot. The 60 odd students of the NGO took four hours and 15 minutes using 2053 kg of colour powders.

Going a step further, the management of the Velammal school utilised the Independence Day to carve out the portraits of 60 freedom fighters to enter the Limca book of records, by sketching them in a record time of about three hours using four tonnes of rangoli powder.

''It was an effort by the school management to instil a sense of patriotism'', the school officials told UNI.

Among the portraits, each measuring 12 X 14 size (176 sq ft), crafted in Rangoli, included Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Nethaji Subash Chandra Bose, Pandit Nehru, K Kamaraj, Rabindranath Tagore, Jhansi Rani, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Dr B R Ambedkar, Motilal Nehru, V O Chidambaram, Poets Bharathiyar, Bharathidasan and Namkkal Kavingnar, Muthuramalinga Devar, Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Marata Warrior Shivaji, Rajaji, Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Bhagat Singh, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vinobha Bhave, Raja Rammohan Roy, Sarojini Naidu, Ironman Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Bipin Chandra Paul, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Rani Laxmibai, Lala Lajpat Rai, Veer Sarwarkar, Dr Annie Besant, Mangal Pandey, V V Giriand Indira Gandhi.

The Rangoli was fittingly inaugurated by Viswananthan Kakkan, brother of late freedom fighter Kakkan in the presence of School Correspondent M V M Velmohan and Senior Principal J D Johnson.

''The photos of the Rangoli would be sent to the Limca Book of Records officially'', the school authorities said.

The management would also suitably award the students involved in this unique venture.

UNI