SANGUEM: Going against the trend of noise and chaos associated with the Narkasur competitions held generally Sanguem took a different route by organising an eco-friendly Narkasur competition.
Not only were the Narkasurs simple without any metal or artificial material used but there was no noise as only clay pots and metal plates.
Instead of the usual huge trolleys and trucks on which Narkasur’s are mounted, at Sanguem the Narkasurs prepared with bamboo strips and pasted with coloured papers were carried by individuals as was done in olden times.
Brain child of Sanguem Vikas Samiti who organised this unique festival along with Vithalwadi Mahila Mandals people of Sanguem were not at all harassed with loud noise and cacophony.
Dinesh Manerkar who led the organisers said the main aim was to avoid the noise pollution caused by using loud music and also metal pollution by not using metal in creating the Narkasurs.
“We had strictly warned the participants that they would be disqualified if found using any metal or artificial material in their Narkasurs,” he said while opining that Narkasur competitions today have termed more into glorifying the demon than the victory of good over evil.
The idea of having an eco-friendly Narkasur was well received since 11 groups participated in the contest and none of the participating groups used fire crackers and after the Narkasurs were burnt, all that remained were the ashes and not mangled metal rods or sheets.
According to Chetan Gaonkar, whose group won the first prize, they worked for 20 days to prepare their Narkasur. “We did not use any paint as instructed and relied only on bamboo and coloured papers,” he said while disclosing that 20 youngsters worked to prepare their effigy.
While preparing the Narkasur was relatively easy, he said it was more difficult to co-ordinate the dancing with it. “We were really dead tired at the end due to dancing with the Narkasur,” he said.
While the first prize of Rs. 30,000 went to Kitono Boys from Madhiowaddo Cotarli, the second prize of Rs. 25,000 was won by Zariwado Boys.
