Pookkalam Competition onam 2019

During this years Onam celebrations we had a Pookkalam competition at school. PookKalam is the flower bed or flower arrangements done during Onam in Kerala.

The children were separated house and section wise and asked to come up with a theme for their Pookkalam. The children and support staff made some truly beautiful Pookkalam's!

Here are the ideas behind their designs:

PEACE

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Our Pookkalam for Elementary School is symbolic of how this is the beginning of their Peace house Yatra. Through this simple, yet eye-catching design, we attempted to show how these small buds blossom into strong peace house members as they mature through the years. Thus, the incoming dove is a representation of the spirit of our house and how it is inculcated in our youngest members from they day they start wearing their blue t-shirts for the first time. Further, the sapling is representative of them as well. As young saplings hoping to make their strongest efforts towards bringing us the rolling trophy, we, as seniors, are helping them to grow into strong trees, so that they can grow into the leaders they aspire to be. We also used the soil to show that all members of peace house are here to help them lay their own foundations and provide them with the required guidance and experience for them to carry on our yatra. These little ones have always been the most cheerful and optimistic members of our house, especially when all of us were at our lowest point. They truly brighten up our house, and the sun is the most ideal portrayal of this. We further emphasized this point with the border of colors around the design, a vibrant and enlightening touch that truly lifted our composition, much like these students lifting all our spirits.

The materials we used also had a significant role to play in our Pookkalam. For instance, we made use of “Arali” flowers, a beautiful pink flower that is deemed very valuable- much like how we consider each student in our house. Further, our house strongly believes in sustainability and being environmentally-friendly regardless of what event we are competing in. Hence, we made use of homemade natural dyes to color our flowers.

Through this design, we hope that we inspired the younger generations of our house to embark on this new adventure with their spirits high and truly solidify our yatra in the coming years.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Our Middle Schoolers are the most integral members of Peace House. Buzzing with energy and with brains overflowing with creativity, they have proved that age is just a number, and have been an essential part of our yatra. Thus, from young saplings we’ve seen them blossom into a bold and beautiful flowers. We believe that each of them has their own amazing talent, which can be seen through the variety of colors we used. As you can see, our dove is still holding a sapling, indicative of how we still maintain our intrinsic values as we embark on our new adventure. At this point, we also decided to add in the colors of the four other houses. While we do survive in a competitive environment, we feel that every other house has played an integral role in our past adventure and will play an even more important role for the adventure to come. With Hope House winning Sports Day and Joy House sweeping the rolling trophy, and even faith house with their commitment, we’ve all grown into stronger and more dedicated individuals due to all this competition. We’ve been able to work harder and reach out for a win only because of our desire to beat all the other houses. Thus, they played a vital role in making each of us the best person we possibly could be. Aside from the competitive aspects themselves, we also learnt a lot from the other houses, and we have used that in the foundation of our house as well, helping us fortify ourselves for the adventure and challenges ahead.

Our earth is at a crisis now, and our house truly understands how important it is for us to be eco-friendly. Hence, we incorporated reusable food items, like pulses and rice, in our design as an ode to our Mother Earth, which is something our house has stood by and deeply appreciated throughout our yatra and our coming yatra. We hope that we can continue doing so in the future as well.

HIGH SCHOOL

Peace House is filled with talented individuals striving for success in any event we participate in. The same applied for this round of the Pookkalam competition. We truly believe in the idea that our house resonates with our school mascot- The Bison. Our founding principles are based off the idea that we are a calm and peaceful community of willing and caring students, eagerly wishing for their house to win, which is a reflection of the virtues BIS stands on. Thus, we tried to integrate this similarity in our design which is why it was centralized it around the Bison. Through the pookalams in our previous designs, we showed the journey of our peace house dove from gathering small saplings to growing beautiful flowers but now, we want to show that our new adventure has finally begun, along with BIS’ new journey. We highlighted this by having our dove perched on the Bison’s horn, and coloring the Bison blue. Even though we are embarking on a new adventure, we still believe in our past virtues from our old yatra and thus, the dove bringing the sapling is symbolic of how despite our paths changing, we are bringing the very principles that built this house with us. Our house is seen as peaceful and calm, yet when you delve deep into our spirit, you can see a certain complexity that our house uses in order to win. Hence, we incorporated this in our design by adding layers of different shades of blue to our design- parallel to how we may seem plain and blue in the beginning but have a much more intricate way of succeeding once looked at sharply. Further, the tones of orange are indicative of each and every one of our member’s burning desire to win. Adding on, as seen from the colors surrounding the pookalam, we feel like each and every one of our students has their own individualistic talents, and that when we combine all of them together we create something truly beautiful, and the same was applied here.

As a house, we’ve been deeply involved with our environment for countless number years, and we will continue to be for the years to come in our new adventure. Therefore, we’ve incorporated this point by reusing old bottle caps in our design. Also, we believe that nature is our bounty and have also used countless number of materials found in our day-to-day like mud, leaves and even grass.

Thus, we hope we’ve been able to show you our journey as a house, and our journey as individual members through every round of our pookalams. We attempted to symbolize each round specifically to each section of the school. From young saplings to beautiful flowers, and from the underdogs to being the fiercest competitor for all the other houses, we have had quite the yatra, but that does not mean it’s over. As we embark on this new adventure, we wish to truly show the power of Peace House, and how our commitment and enthusiasm will surely get us a win. After all, we are gladiators day and night, so lets go peace house fight fight fight.

FAITH

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

For the theme, Yatra the adventure begins, Faith house chose to depict a Ferris wheel, a sun and a compass in our Pookkalam design. The child within each one of us will always associate adventure with joy and merriment, and so the Ferris wheel is representative of that thrill and excitement that comes with adventure. The turning of the Ferris wheel symbolizes a new chapter occurring in the journey of faith house, and the rising sun further contributes to this image as it signifies new beginnings and prosperity. The compass represents the moral compass that each of us in faith house posses, the compass that guides us towards being driven, talented and sincere individuals.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

The phoenix is truly a spectacular creature, as it is known for its ability to rise from its own ashes and be reborn. This creature truly encompasses the nature of faith house and it's members as we never fail to get back up after being defeated. The large phoenix in our Pookkalam represents the fierce spirit of our house will always persist despite any hardships we may face on the adventures we will embark on.

HIGH SCHOOL

Our design is inspired by the recent Chandraayan moon launch initiated by our country, India. Unfortunately, during the launch, the ground control lost communication with the probe minutes before it was supposed to land, however, the scientists refused to lose hope and soon Chandraayan was found and landed on the moon. The galaxy and astronaut in our pookkalam have been displayed to pay homage to the efforts of the scientists, and the story of the space probe. Faith House, unfortunately, did not win last year however much like the scientists our house members never lost enthusiasm and hope, our spirit can never be crushed. The galaxy represents the unknown and uncertain, that we as a house are not afraid to embrace this year. We included traditional pookkalam patterns into our design as well as a representation of our cultural roots that we hold true to despite any of our new and modern ideas.

JOY

In order to commemorate Onam, a festival marking a time of peace and prosperity in our nation, Joy House would like to tell an inspiring story taken from the life of Laxmi Agarwal, the survivor of an acid attack at the tender age of 15. To pay tribute to her valiant spirit and positive outlook towards life, we would like to dedicate our Pookalam designs to her life story and the cause she still relentlessly fights for, such that we may steer ourselves towards the path of a respectful and responsible community facing an auspicious year to come.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Our design begins at one of the most auspicious moments in the world, the birth of new life, an event that binds all sentient lifeforms in the world together. The enveloping hands symbolize the protection that we are granted as newborn children, not being exposed to the real world. However, they also depict our sense of innocence and fragility and signify the importance to prevent that very innocence from becoming tainted. Proceeding with the theme of contrasts, the centerpiece of this design is the well-established symbol Yin and Yang. To the newborn child, the symbol represents both the good and the bad in the world. However, more than just contrasting forces, Yin and Yang represents a healthy balance between two aspects of our world that contribute to form a system that is greater than either half separately. Our take on the symbol highlights the effect of how different types of exposure in terms of up-bringing and experiences in life such as hardships shape how the child evolves as a human being. The use of organic products such as sand is a key element of this design as it accentuates the pure and untainted natural bond between a newborn and their mother. The use of color also plays a vital role in the interpretation of our design. We chose primarily dark colors for this design as we hope to reinforce the notion that growth and development occurs most frequently after one has overcome the darkest hour. The final key element in this design as well as the rest to come is the hummingbird. The hummingbird is a constant as it represents the key values of Joy House. The hummingbird symbolizes our positive outlook and cherishes our eternal unchained freedom. The use of seeds and grain in the Elementary design also resemble the beginning stages of a new adventure.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

The next illustration follows the former chronologically and represents the next phase of life. As the child has now somewhat lost her innocence, we can now link the story directly to that of Laxmi Agarwal as she now has her own individuality and unique life experience. The depiction of the liquid represents the acid that she was attacked with, however this can be perceived in a different light as well. Following her indomitable spirit, the liquid can also represent water, an irreplaceable source of rejuvenation and life to all lifeforms on Earth. The illustrations the pristine water and the tree to form a serene landscape portray the way she changed her own outlook towards the world and became a more ‘organic’ person in the sense that she fought for what she believed in looking the way she did with no superficiality or personal motives. The use of different shades in the water represents her attempt to stand out with her own individuality and not succumb to her fears and drown her identity and values among the thousands of other voiceless souls who never spoke out. If you look closely we have used a variety of grain and other recyclable materials such as bottle caps etc. and Small sprouts of a plant. This symbolizes the growth from the previous stage as shown in the ES pookalam design.

HIGH SCHOOL

The final illustration represents the end of this journey, evident by the setting sun and even the gesture of her closing her eyes. However, it must be noted that for every end there is a new beginning, a realization that occurred to Laxmi Agarwal herself during her fight. Even if she herself cannot continue fighting, her legacy will remain immortalized for years to come as shown by the unkempt nature of her strands of hair which metaphorically connotes her influence and core values seeping into every corner of the world. The design is very simplistic on the surface as its intent is to act as a medium for reflection and self-evaluation. The depiction serves to show that it doesn’t matter who you are or how you look on a surface. The only thing that you will truly be judged on is what you did and the imprint that you left on the world countless years after your own passing. The colors used in this design are the brightest yet as they serve to represent the fruits of her journey and the hardships that she had to overcome from the darkest hour to the brightest dawn. We chose this theme as it also links with the core values of perseverance and optimism in Joy House. The motive of rising from hardship also connects to the theme of the Phoenix rising from its that we attempted to convey last year. It underlines the underlying moral that we attempted to convey through our journey of life: rise up from your failures and stand taller than you ever did. Finally, as you can see we have used Blossoming flowers to show the final destination continuing from ES and MS’s seeds and sprouts.

HOPE

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

The theme of this year is Yatra, an adventure begins. And we hope house wanted to depict the story of a flower who goes through a lot of hardship to reach the top. This is why our flower in relation to pookalam is the Lotus. The purple to blue colour gradient shows how it starting at the bottom of the pond and the lighter blue is it making towards the surface. This also shows the Yatra of not only the lotus but of us as a society as well as we need to work hard to make it to the top. This shows us elementary in our stage of a budding lotus.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Following our theme of the lotus. We have the lotus just about begining to come together like that of a teenager with bright colours showing how a teenager is bright and happy. The patterns show how creative we middle school children are. The gradient that has followed through from the elementary design is starting to get brighter as it is reaching the surface of the water and with the plants which is showed by the blue to green.

HIGH SCHOOL

High school is a turbulent time for all, and the symbol of the lotus both inspires in ad represents us. High school students of hope, make it their priority to persevere through the hardships that surround them by striving to work for a better tomorrow, just like the lotus.

A lotus however isn't a solitary flower, it gives back and replenishes the environment around it, by helping all the organisms around it to survive and thrive. This to is in sync with the mindset that drives hope house, and how they too aim work to improve society around them.a

If you take a look at our designs in the other grades, you notice that there is a high usage of the colour blue. This represents our progression through the water and adversity. Elementary represents the our journey, our yatra beginning. The noble lotus has its start in the depths of murky pond water, and our middle school represents our ascension to the surface, while high school represents the penultimate stage, we have pushed past our troubles, and have reached the top, and are basking in the sunlight of our efforts.

It is no concidence that the lotus has left its mark on cultures around the world. That is a sign of hopes future. We will leave a mark on the world. We aim to do that by nurturing and caring for our future generations.

If you take a look at our design, it is made up of petals. This represents that where we are now is due to the guidance of our elders and betters.

We, at hope house, believe that if we don't help or environment to progress and develop, then all our efforts are would be in vain.

EARLY YEARS

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