Kerala Youth Festival: Gaayathri Menon stuns with a perfect 10

Thrissur: Gaayathri Menon was the star among the singers at the state school youth festival in the high school category. She bagged 'A' grade in all the 10 events in which she took part.

A tenth standard student of BSS Gurukulam at Alathur in Palakkad, she was trained by her mother Beena Ramesh who works as music teacher at Ananganadi HSS at Ottapalam.

She won individual 'A' grades in Malayalam poem recitation, classical music, ashtapathi, kathakali sangeetham, Sanskrit song and oration in Sanskrit called Chambu prabhashanam.

In group events, her team won 'A'grade in Urdu, Malayalam and Sanskrit group song along with Vande Mataram.

Gaayathri was the finalist in Sun TV's 'Sun Singer' and had won praise for her singing skills in Surya TV's contest 'Bol Baby Bol'.

As an individual participant could not take part in more than three contests, Gaayathri chose three individual and two group items in the general category. She also chose her events in Sanskrit fest to take part in a total of 10 events.

She had started participating in the arts festival as a UKG student. As her family was in Delhi during her childhood days, she took part in the Jana Sanskriti arts fest being held there. She was the Kalathilakam in the Sanskriti fest for five consecutive years. Gaayathri wants to become a teacher after higher studies in arts and languages.

"Singing is my passion and I will continue to pursue it by becoming a language or arts teacher," she said.