Vellore: Thanima ’18, the annual cultural event to mark Onam festival was held at Vellore Institute of Technology recently.
Thanima is an annual event organised by students and faculty of VIT hailing from Kerala.
This year in its 18th edition, the event was held mainly to express gratitude to the people who had contributed to the Kerala flood relief from the institute.
The students, parents, staff and the management of the institute had mobilised Rs 1 crore as relief amount which was personally handed over to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by VIT University Chancellor G Viswanathan.
The event was inaugurated by Malayalam actor Amit Chakkalakkal and Viswanathan handed over the prizes to the those who had extended help in all forms to Kerala.
Speaking at the function, Viswanathant said that Thanima is being conducted by 1,500 students and 160 faculties of the institute. “Thanima was an event in which not just people from Kerala took part, but students from faculty from all over India took part with great interest,” he added.
He recalled that when he became a Parliamentarian in 1967, he was able to work with left-wing leaders A K Gopalan, his wife Susheela Gopalan, P K Vasudevan, E K Nayanar and others.
“Kerala is blessed with greenery and rivers and it was very sad that thousands of people had lost their property in the recent floods. While students, faculty and staff had contributed Rs 55 lakh from VIT, the management had contributed Rs 45 lakh towards the Kerala Flood Relief Fund. No other education institution had contributed such a huge amount,” he said.
He added that VIT students from Kerala should also work towards the development of their home State. Chakkalakkal, who inaugurated the event by lighting a traditional lamp, said that it gave him immense happiness to take part in the
cultural festival. He extolled students to dream of their ambition.
“The students should not fall prey to vices like smoking tobacco, liquor and any other addiction,” he added.
Malayalam writer Pushpa Kurup was the guest of honour on the occasion. Director of Students Welfare Amit Mahendrakar and professors Naiji, Jagadeesh Kumar were present on the occasion. Students presented kummi dance, group dance, drama and other cultural programmes.