Horlicks Wiz Kids 2007, no kids’ stuff
Chennai:School students performing at the Horlicks Wiz Kids 2007 in Chennai on Thursday.But for the school uniforms, the scene at Kamaraj Arangam on Thursday could have been mistaken for a concert.Hordes of cheering schoolchildren filled the auditorium, and more spilled over onto the grounds. Amid the chaos, competitions were conducted, finalists selected and results announced.The Horlicks Wiz Kids 2007, an inter-school fiesta comprising over 40 art, literary and cultural competitions, started off with a bang.Over 9,000 students from 126 schools across the city gathered at the hall where the first competition. ‘Indian Film Hits’. was held.Students from several schools performed popular songs from Indian movies such as ‘Dil Se’ and ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’. Free style dance competitions were also part of the event.At the preliminaries of the shipwreck competition held on the grounds students impersonating various personalities had to convince the organiser that they deserved the only life jacket on board the imaginary ship that was sinking. From Angelina Jolie’s impassioned plea to the men in the audience to Michael Jackson’s dancing, the competition had the audience in gales of laughter.
One participating student said the event provided “a great platform to showcase talents.” Also, the number of schools participating made it very competitive, she added.This is the fourth year that the Horlicks Wiz Kids event is being held.The winners at the city level competition then participate in a national level competition, the winners of which are sent to Brazil for a cultural exchange programme.Sumeet Saluja, General Manager, Marketing, Glaxo Smithline Consumer Health Care, the company behind Horlicks, said: “It provides a platform for children to develop into better human beings.” He added that with academics becoming the focus of schools these days, extra curricular activities were being sidelined. A fiesta such as the Horlicks Wiz Kids helped in the overall development of the child through a range of competitions, he added.
