Sunbeams Annual Art Exhibition 2010

The day turned cloudy around evening and a comfortable breeze was blowing, a perfect environment. Students and teachers, families and friends happily anticipating the inauguration milled around the buzzing auditorium on Friday, the 30th of April, when renowned writer and scientist Dr Muhammed Zafar Iqbal announced the "Sunbeams Annual Art Exhibition 2010" officially open.

People of all ages flocking in the Uttara campus on a Friday made quite a sight for the neighbours. Cars arrived, and excited art-lovers got out. The young five-year-old jumping up and down at the sight of her village scenery, the proud mother swelling with pride at the sight of her daughter's brilliant glass-painting.

The ground floor had some pretty interesting scratch-pictures (the ones where bright colours are hidden under a black coating, and a picture is drawn by scratching the coating and the hidden colours "magically" coming out to form a picture of one's wish). Most of the exhibits, however, were in the 1st floor Art Room.

The Art Room welcomed one by a display of Sand-Paper paint, and the impressive Black and White art at the entry. The idea of the Black and White paintings is awesome itself, and the students whose works were on display had done a great job of putting the ultimate colour contrast on paper.

Exhibits inside the room were just as impressive. What awed the audience the most was the variety of artwork on display. There was almost everything, starting from oil pastel depictions of basketball games, tributes to Victory Day, May Day, etc and of course village sceneries to the more unique glass paintings, pottery and versatile water colouring.

When mentioned which ones they liked best people usually responded that it was the range of artwork.

"I wasn't sure what to expect," said one guest. "I thought the exhibition would consist of just landscapes. But what the children have done is very impressive."

Another guest mentioned the self-portraits, and some of the artists' photographs had also been on display so that spectators could compare.

The opening day was a hit, and many of the exhibits had been declared "sold" within the first day. Prices range from one hundred to one thousand, depending on what type of work it is, and the exhibition continues up to today.

This is the last day, so if you're in the mood for bright colours that bring back old memories, the Sunbeams Annual Art Exhibition 2010 is definitely worth a try.

By Padya Paramita

Saddling the sea

The Greek Gods are supposed to be the most selfish Gods around. We're skipping the Roman ones, cause let's face it, the Romans were cheats who were too busy beating the living daylights out of everyone to come up with their own, original Gods. But, as with all things, the East talks back. This is the story of how the Hindu Gods became immortal with the help of the Asuras [the technical equivalent of titans, i.e. monsters], and didn't give them their deserving props. No wonder it led to the mythical equivalent of a rap feud.

See, the Gods could die before [isn't that a thought?] and they would die permanently. Then they figured out this mystic incantation called Sanjiboni mantra which would bring them to life. It's all okay for us to die and for them to throw us into hell, but oh no! It can't happen to them! Anyway, they thought the whole idea of incantations was kind of long winded and troublesome, not to mention the forward thinking modern women thought it was a lot of hocus pocus and gave the Gods a bad image. Given the chance, what would you be: the fearless God who charges into battle without apparent fear of death, or the dude who gets killed and flops around in the dust being trampled until someone can come around and patch him up? So they asked Narayan/Vishnu what they could do about it. He suggested they get a elixir of life deal: the amrita.

Now to get amrita, the Ocean had to be churned. If you hadn't noticed, oceans tend to be big freaking masses of water, unlike your average bowl of milk which you can whip to get cream. And this was a heavenly ocean mind you. So the Gods asked the Asuras to lend a hand and they agreed to help. As you might know, the world is carried on the head of a serpent who rides on the back of Kurma, the turtle-king. Since the Gods couldn't pull up the huge mountain they were going to use to churn the water, the serpent, Anonto, kindly agreed to put it in place and even said he would be the rope that will be used to pull the mountain. To stop the mountain from sinking into the sea bed, they asked the turtle-king [the title is much cooler than the name] to carry the mountain on his back. Then the Gods grabbed Anonto's tail and the Asuras held his head and pulled. Poor snake!

The sound was deafening. Water went everywhere, fish died from the heat, the trees and minerals of Mandor mountain melt in the fire that ensued and fell into the ocean and the water first turned into milk and then ghee. It was tiring work, but Vishnu kept the Gods going at it. Eventually, the Moon came out of the Ocean with his pale light shining everywhere and sat next to the Gods. Energized by the Moon's appearance, they all pulled harder. This time, Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, came out. She was followed by a whole host of things; like the Kamdhenu [the divine wish granting cow]; Uchhaishrava, the horse that's the ride of King of the Gods, Indra; Vishnu's conch shell and his bow; the Apsaras, beautiful singers and dancers who entertain the Gods; Koustabh, the world's most valuable jewel which came out and went straight to Vishnu and hung on his throat; and Varuni, the creator and Goddess of alcohol. Then came the coveted amrita with the God Dhanvantari. Of course, since the Gods had taken everything up to then, the Asuras yelled that the amrita was theirs.

Meanwhile, the churning was still going on and Airabot came out. Indra promptly took the elephant to be his ride as well. From his love for cool rides, it's safe to assume he'd probably be the Sultan of Brunei if he was human. Then there came Kalkut. It's the worst poison the universe has ever seen. To save the world, Shiva swallowed the poison and it rests in his throat, which became blue from the strength of the poison. That's why he is called Neelkantha or Bluethroat.

By this time the Asuras took the amrita from the Gods. The Gods, being wusses, didn't have the strength to fight the Asuras, who had worked just as hard as them and were just as tired. So Vishnu transformed into Megan Fox, or a girl looking very much like Megan Fox and the Asuras were totally caught off guard by her beauty. When she asked for the amrita, they handed it over as quick as anything and felt very good about it, too. Sounds like just about every teen movie with a queen bee, huh?

Anyways, after getting all the stuff from the churning of the sea, the Gods decided to celebrate by drinking amrita. We're guessing that's the party where Varuni hooked up with Varun, the water god, and Lakshmi hooked up with Vishnu [is it just me or did this guy steal the house?]. A monster called Rahu disguised himself as a God and sneaked into the party to have a drink, but the Sun and the new-found Moon recognised him and told [guess who?] Vishnu, who used his chakra to lope off Rahu's head. But the amrita reached Rahu's throat, so his head was still alive. And since then, he hangs out in the sky and whenever the Sun and Moon go by, he swallows them. But since he doesn't have a stomach, they just come right out of his throat and that's what they call Eclipse.

What happened next? What always happens: the immortal Gods kicked some Asura butt, who fought valiantly but how do you fight things you can't kill? So in the end they broke ranks and fled to the forests and under the sea.

By Dr Who