Future kids, the organisation which had organised the art competition, happened to hold a city level competition which I was eligible to participate in, owing to my being at least the third best from my school.
It so happened that the venue was not in my school, rather it was to be held in Future kids' own office in the Roundtana in Anna nagar. I was thrilled and couldn’t wait to tell this my parents. My mother, always tender, loving and encouraging told me that I should win this competition as well. My father on the other hand showed no enthusiasm whatever in my achievement. The usual reason that I get is that he works in the office too long and literally has no time for us. It was a queer fact for me because I believed that my father was physically very powerful owing to his intimidating form and that there should be no reason whatsoever which makes him tired after a day’s work in the office. It was also announced that I would have to arrive at the venue of the competition all by myself, which was out of the question those days as I was the only child and my parents and grandparents wouldn’t allow me outside the house all by myself.
Fortunately or unfortunately it so happened that the day on which the competition was to be held was a Saturday which meant that my father could drive me to that place, which my father agreed that he would. On the day of the competition however he was in a very sour mood and I had brought up the topic that I could only manage to get third prize with the colours and paints I had and that they were pretty old to be used in a city level competition. After much persuasion from my mother, my father agreed that I should be given a new set of colours and that I should keep my mouth shut after that. My mother secretly whispered to me," You better win this competition or he will skin us both if he keeps up this sour mood." As gullible as I was back then, started trembling as I took the comment seriously. However when I entered the venue the fear was instantly gone. It was as if I was a male bird who had just puffed up his chest to boast to impress his mate, full of confidence. I did however give a thought to the math by which my chances stood. If I was just the third best in my school, chances were that I would still not beat the first and second best from my own school let alone the most talented kids from across the city. My mother and father were asked to wait outside and not interfere once the competition started.
The topics which were given to my level were pretty easy, in fact I chose "World Peace" because there could be a lot done in art pertaining to that topic, and even if I don’t make any sense of my drawing I could still pass it to be "abstract art". I analysed the arsenal which I had with me and found that I had transcended the level where I use crayons to colour my art, and that the water colours which I had were a tad too light to make any impact of those who would take a look at my art. I resorted to drawing a pigeon which would essentially be the only untouched part of the white chart paper, perched on top of our earth, surrounded by hundreds of machine guns, spilled bullets in coppery bronze colours, bazookas and rockets all pointed at earth. As it seemed they all pointed at earth from outer space most of my painting was black poster paint with specks of white correction marks which resembled the twinkling stars.
I was satisfied after I completed my entry and was aghast to see that none of the other participants had taken up that topic and that without comparison there would be no way to judge a piece of art that stood alone. I was dejected and went to my dad and said "Let us go home, I am hungry".
To my surprise, although he understood that I knew there was no way I could have won the competition, he was willing to wait a little longer hoping that his son would win a prize. I got my hopes up again and waited. Finally after much wait, they announced that I had gotten the second place. I was content. I did not get a fancy trophy however. My father and mother were called to a meeting with the finance officer of the company and were presented with two options. One, they could walk home with a cash prize which I think was not a significant amount. The second option however was that I could join Future Kids and learn computers with a scholarship of 75% whose remainder would be paid by me. I do not know why my father chose the second option, but I have to say that it changed my life forever.
It so happened that the venue was not in my school, rather it was to be held in Future kids' own office in the Roundtana in Anna nagar. I was thrilled and couldn’t wait to tell this my parents. My mother, always tender, loving and encouraging told me that I should win this competition as well. My father on the other hand showed no enthusiasm whatever in my achievement. The usual reason that I get is that he works in the office too long and literally has no time for us. It was a queer fact for me because I believed that my father was physically very powerful owing to his intimidating form and that there should be no reason whatsoever which makes him tired after a day’s work in the office. It was also announced that I would have to arrive at the venue of the competition all by myself, which was out of the question those days as I was the only child and my parents and grandparents wouldn’t allow me outside the house all by myself.
Fortunately or unfortunately it so happened that the day on which the competition was to be held was a Saturday which meant that my father could drive me to that place, which my father agreed that he would. On the day of the competition however he was in a very sour mood and I had brought up the topic that I could only manage to get third prize with the colours and paints I had and that they were pretty old to be used in a city level competition. After much persuasion from my mother, my father agreed that I should be given a new set of colours and that I should keep my mouth shut after that. My mother secretly whispered to me," You better win this competition or he will skin us both if he keeps up this sour mood." As gullible as I was back then, started trembling as I took the comment seriously. However when I entered the venue the fear was instantly gone. It was as if I was a male bird who had just puffed up his chest to boast to impress his mate, full of confidence. I did however give a thought to the math by which my chances stood. If I was just the third best in my school, chances were that I would still not beat the first and second best from my own school let alone the most talented kids from across the city. My mother and father were asked to wait outside and not interfere once the competition started.
The topics which were given to my level were pretty easy, in fact I chose "World Peace" because there could be a lot done in art pertaining to that topic, and even if I don’t make any sense of my drawing I could still pass it to be "abstract art". I analysed the arsenal which I had with me and found that I had transcended the level where I use crayons to colour my art, and that the water colours which I had were a tad too light to make any impact of those who would take a look at my art. I resorted to drawing a pigeon which would essentially be the only untouched part of the white chart paper, perched on top of our earth, surrounded by hundreds of machine guns, spilled bullets in coppery bronze colours, bazookas and rockets all pointed at earth. As it seemed they all pointed at earth from outer space most of my painting was black poster paint with specks of white correction marks which resembled the twinkling stars.
I was satisfied after I completed my entry and was aghast to see that none of the other participants had taken up that topic and that without comparison there would be no way to judge a piece of art that stood alone. I was dejected and went to my dad and said "Let us go home, I am hungry".
To my surprise, although he understood that I knew there was no way I could have won the competition, he was willing to wait a little longer hoping that his son would win a prize. I got my hopes up again and waited. Finally after much wait, they announced that I had gotten the second place. I was content. I did not get a fancy trophy however. My father and mother were called to a meeting with the finance officer of the company and were presented with two options. One, they could walk home with a cash prize which I think was not a significant amount. The second option however was that I could join Future Kids and learn computers with a scholarship of 75% whose remainder would be paid by me. I do not know why my father chose the second option, but I have to say that it changed my life forever.
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