Children's imagination at its best

Over 50 children from all around Dhaka participated in the event. While the maximum age limit for participation was 14 years, the youngest child participating was just over three- years- old. Tiny tots with pencils, crayons, art paper and paintbrushes enthusiastically filed into the fourth floor corridor of AR Plaza. Parents were requested to seat their wards and then leave, so that children's creativity would be unhampered.

Farid Ahmed, proprietor of Somoy, explained the reason behind choosing such a theme: "Every year the grown ups celebrate Friendship Day with vigour; we wanted children to be a part of that. The theme is such that it would make the children think how close they are to their parents and they would want their parents to be their friends." Shafia Begum accompanied her two daughters from Rampura. According to her, "The event is a very good initiative. Through the drawings, one can understand a child's psychology and how she views her parents." Seven- year-old Al Isman Bin Bashir from Greendale International School, Gulshan, enthusiastically added that his mother was his best friend and he loved playing with her hair. So he had drawn his mother's picture with long hair.

Initially there was only one age bracket for judging the winners. But later the organisers realised the mistake of trying to judge a 3- year- old's painting on par with that of a 14- year-old. Hence they divided the participants into two age groups- three to eight and eight to 14. Each of the participants bagged a book for participation. The judges -- namely Abul Barak Alvi, Ashok Kormokar and Dhrubo Esh --decided upon the 10 best pictures. Dr Muntasir Mamun and Dr Zafar Iqbal distributed gift vouchers worth Taka 1,000 each to the winners. The winners were Borsha, Shochcho, Bashir, Maheen, Nafisa, Muntahir, Probha, Asiful, Runu, and Sultan.

A week-long (August 11-18) book exhibition for children is on at the same venue.