Painting contest held in Surat

SURAT, MAY 30: Fourteen participants from the city and South Gujarat took part in a wall-painting competition held here on Sunday, on the...

SURAT, MAY 30: Fourteen participants from the city and South Gujarat took part in a wall-painting competition held here on Sunday, on the eve of World No Tobacco Day8217;, being celebrated throughout the world on Monday.

Organised by the Surat Municipal Corporation and Jeevan Shailee Clinic of Health Forum, the participants 8212; including students, fine artists, office-goers and businessmen 8212; painted pictures on the walls of Dadabhai Pandya Swimming Pool at Makkai Pool, depicting the hazards of consumption of tobacco in various forms.

The organisers also distributed leaflets promoting awareness, held a phone-in session, a poster competition and distributed prizes to the winners of the competition.

Chandresh Randeria, a Fine Arts student from Amalsad of Valsad district, Atul Thakkar, an office-goer from the city, and Dipak Solanki, a Fine Artist from Maroli of Navsari district were adjudged first, second and third respectively in the competition.

Talking to Express Newsline, Dr Ketan Bharadva of Jeevan Shailee Clinic, a voluntary health organisation of the city, said, 8220;This year, we had concentrated on addiction to cigarettes. So the theme of the competition was Leave Behind the Pack. People are now beginning to sit up and notice.8221; He was assisted by Dr Ketan Jhaveri and Dr Timir Shah.

Randeria8217;s work, which depicted three cigarettes as cricket stumps being shattered by a ball, proved a crowd-puller. 8220;Youth today either play cricket or smoke. And smoking comes naturally as we have a tobacco giant sponsoring the team. My aim is to tell people that tobacco kills,8221; he said.

Thakkar, who won the second prize, optimistically said,8220;People see the things depicted and many do turn around. This is a fruitful exercise for the society.8221;

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Solanki8217;s work, which won the third prize, showed a wheel in a house and a cigarette piercing through it. 8220;Cigarettes simply finish off the life of a man and leave it hollow,8221; he told Express Newsline.

Other participants included Vaibhav Jambhekar, Shiny Nicholas and Sandeep Patel 8212; all city school students 8212; Jasmin Vaidya, a drawing teacher, Bipin Nair, a college student, Paresh Halpati, a student from Mandvi, Jayesh Devgani, a musician, Dilip Oza, a commercial artist and Rajesh Goswami, a businessman.