Diversity is the theme in higher secondary Kathaprasangam

Alappuzha: The higher secondary-level Kathaprasangam competition drew packed audience due to the diversity of themes and smart story-telling skills of young talents at the Government Muhamadans High School hall on the second day of the state school Kalolsavam here on Saturday.

Based on themes raging from feminism, child marriages and social justice to gender equality,  each tale had a point to prove.  

The story of Nujooda Ali, a Yemeni girl, who was instrumental in bri-nging out a law  against child marriages in Yeman in 2009, was received by the spectators with claps. Nujooda was married off at the age of eight to an elderly man by her father on condition that she should not be touched till she is mature. But, violating the condition, the groom tries to rape her in the first night.  However, little Nujood revolts and runs to a magistrate seeking divorce. She tells the magistrate that she wants to study and that the marriage was conducted without her consent. The judge helps her get legal aid to fight her case. Subsequently, the court allows divorce in 2009, fixing the marriage age as 16 in Yeman.

The tale of  the revenge of Kannaki, which made Pandyaraja vanish, won the hearts of the spectators. Kannaki's intense love with Kovalan came to an end after the King of Pandyaraja ordered to kill Kannaki's husband thinking that he had stolen the chilambu of the queen. The king came to know about the chilambu as Kovalan took it to a goldsmith to sell it. It was the goldsmith who infor-med the king about the chilambu. The soldiers chopped off his head.

Kannaki,  shattered by the killing of her husband,  storms the  palace and meets the Rajah. She  tells the king that she could prove that her husband did not steal the chilambu. Kannaki crac-ks the chilambu throwing it onto the floor. When it is crushed, diamonds sp-read across the floor. With this, the Rajah realises that he had killed a wrong person and seeks apology from Kannaki. But she refuses to pardon him and curses him resulting in the end of kingdom.

Inter-caste love affairs and cruelties of feudalistic ages were also presented. The life of cruel Kuttanadan landlord Achankunju, which was taken from K.V. Mohankumar's novel ‘Ushnarashi,’ was poignant. Achankunju's sexual predation against  erotic Kochi Nanga, a Pulaya woman married to toddy tapper Danavan, who was ousted from the house for marrying a lower caste woman, takes a turn as he tries to rape her at night when she was home alone. But the woman refuses to succumb and handles him in her own way.  This is the tale of a strong woman who survives atrocities.

The challenging times of  journalists  too became a subject. The 'Reporter' na-rrates the killing of a you-ng woman  journalist poi-nting to the risk involved in reporting. India is no longer a safe country for journalists, it says.