Greenpeace Kolkata's (Calcutta) Rainbow Warrior school fest ended with some rocking as schools screamed green lyrics into the mikes. Lots of enthusiasm and noise pollution.
Rainbow Rock
By Diana Boidyo
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| © 2009 EarthSmiles.net . All rights reserved. Made from 100% recycled pixels. The last day of the Rainbow Warrior Fest was held on 6 February. After a break of about a week (the first three days of the fest were 27-30 January,) the participants were back, this time with their various instruments and original compositions for the “Play Some Rock-n-Roll” competition. Obviously, the songs were on the Environment, and the competition was judged by the lone Rahul Guha Roy, lead vocalist of Kolkata atl rock band, Cassini’s Division.  The show was hosted by Mr. Anindya Chaterjee, an ex-student of Birla High School for boys. His alma mater bagged both the 1st and the 2nd prize (they had sent two teams to the competition), while the third prize was bagged by A.K. Ghosh Memorial school.
“This was a great competition, because I felt that it’s not about winning or losing; it’s more about sending a message through music which is a passion for me,” said Rajarshi Das of The Frank Anthony Public School, one of the participants of this event. EarthSmiles.net liked the FAPS performance the best, and the quality of the song composition, which was deep and reflective… very rock!
Apart from the participants performing, the fest had guest performances by Strange Factory and Ashram two popular bands of Kolkata. In fact the only non-musical part of this fest was the prize distribution ceremony.
Finally, Greenpeace members were attempting to recruit new members to the organisation, hopefully directly compensating a bit more to the un-offset carbon footprint of the event. Had the competition been acoustic, the noise pollution would have been kept down (you could hear the sound all over the mall and beyond, and it had people wondering at the racket… especially the elderly and people not accustomed to Western music, or rock in general,) Again, locating the event at Salt Lake, and inviting city schools as well bought most of the participants several kilometers on fossil fuel powered vehicles every day of the fest – and not just public transport. Some individual students came by car, and others by taxi… they had to look their best for this last event, especially, and carry their equipment. (Still, the fest overall managed a 2-Planet rating in PlanetPoints, so that’s not bad at all - see the summary on the side panel of the lead article) Events like this could, instead of just promoting an environmental organisation, could be used to generate awareness about how individual action can make real changes, through changes in habits, and consciously weighing the options and implications of what we do – till that becomes the habit. Then it really would be a green fest! On the whole, thought, fests such as The Rainbow Warrior fest should be organised more often, albeit with an eye on protecting the environment and reducing the events carbon footprint as much as possible. Then only will it more out of the realm of entertainment and become a positive sign that young people can and do care… to make a positive difference.  Competetitors... and judge... |
