Peace fest seeks to heal 2002 scars with street plays,music

On Friday,the second day of the event,music and Nukkad Natak (street play) competitions were held.

Organisers said five groups participated in Nukkad Natak contest and one of them was formed by youths from the minority community. In music contest,the four bands which took part in the group category had members from both the communities,they said. In short-film competition,two out of five entries were from youths from minority community and in photography,14 out of 50 participants belonged to minority community.

The venues of these competitions are spread over different areas of the city like Gujarat Vidyapeeth,Behrampura,Gomtipur and Vastrapur. Winners of various competitions will perform at amphitheatre at Vastrapur Lake on Sunday.

It is for the first time that Nazariya has included events other than films in its annual peace festival. Organisers said they included other art forms to give platform to more youths and thus widen the scope of the festival. “Youth were misused by political parties during the 2002 riots. The mutual mistrust that was created among them still persists. We are making an attempt to build bridges among them through this festival,” Sultan Ahmad,training and technical coordinator of Drishti,told The Indian Express.

Arastu Zakia,founder of The Difference,said he felt sad that there was a need to organise a peace festival. “The events in 2002 were tragic. Youths are impressionable and how many positive influences were left by that episode?” Zakia asked.

The screening of short films will be held on Saturday. The fest concludes on Sunday.