And the winner is..

One of our initiatives under the scope of BLESS model to impact and transform people’s lives, reduce stress levels is to engage them in meaningful activities – morning walks, learning culture and healthy competitions.

In the recent art competition that was conducted in our residential complex, who is supposed to be the winner?

Is it the group who made an intricate, well thought design of actually creating two human shapes? It can be relatively easy with pencil and brush but not powder. The powerful message being - it is not we humans who consume the cigarette but the other way around and they hammered a simple question into our minds – “When we know it, why we do it?”

Heights of creativity was to have a real cigarette bud stand tall in the cigarette bud portion of the art.

Or should this group be chosen as winner who prepared Lord Ganesha’s entire form with rice, suji and dal wanting to tell the world that in every morsel of food, there is God – Don’t waste food. Thirty minutes after the competition, every thing that was used, was back to their respective containers to be consumed.

Another participant all by herself, true to the essence of rangoli, used only powder and an art typically with dots to finish her piece in just half an hour while the allotted time was a hour with a few minutes of grace period

Or should the group of teenagers be applauded who were in the game not really to give the adults a stiff competition but with a spirit of celebration as this competition was organized on ocassion of New Years and Sankranti. A huge flower with beautifully colored petals beyond the four by four feet space that was allocated to each contestant stood testimony to that spirit of togetherness.

Or is it that solo participant who decided to participate inspite of a lingering foot pain and who could not keep her legs folded for too long, just to respect the efforts of the organisors and the mood.

Or finally a lady nearing seventy who, ten minutes before the final buzzer, drew a pair of cup and saucer to drink tea and coffee just to represent neighborly exchange and wrote the following message on the ground – Happy New Year Good Luck! What would you be doing when you are at that age?

The standard line in every reality show we watch says, all are winners and then the award goes to someone in particular. The judge was Harish from Anekal town who owns the page Bannada Baduku (Colors of life) in Face Book said something in those lines.

Here is a small trivia, for you to judge now.

A young mom who just came to the venue as a viewer, jumped into the competition to assist the lady with foot pain, seeing her struggle, before it became severe so that the art can be completed within the time frame and she can be relieved. And another neighbor who was passing by with a lollypop in her mouth assisted the teenagers, who had obviously done an art too large for them to handle in one hour.

Now you know who is the winner. The young mom and the helping neighbor, right? And not to forget that old aunt wishing luck.

It was never about the art or competition or winning, it was only and only about people.

To know more about BLESS model and if you are keen to introduce this in your complex write to Ramosara.foundation@gmail.com