A vibrant medley of shapes and colours, over 3,000 kites will dot the skies of Kollam on March 17 as part of a kite festival being organised by students of the TKM College of Engineering.
An attempt to break the Asian record for the maximum number of kites flown simultaneously, the major objective of the event is to spread awareness about the plight of Munroe Thuruthu, Kollam’s sinking island.
“The theme of our event is ‘Unite for Munroe’ and the event will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a three-hour break in between. We have 3,000 students and they will be joined by faculty members and the public at the venue,” says Ashwin T.S., college union general secretary.
The event will be held on the Kollam beach with the support of the District Tourism Promotion Council and Kreeda Kites.
The judges of the Universal Records Forum will be on the Kollam beach during the event and the students are hopeful about breaking the current record. “While we will be flying normal kites, Kreeda will bring those giant ones from all parts of India. The current record is around 1,500 and we have nearly double participants and are very confident,” he says. While the college ordered nearly 1,500 kites from Kozhikode, the rest have been made by the students.
Back to Home
The TKM college has been involved in a number of projects at Muroe Thuruth and the students say they want to educate the public about the plight of the islanders.
As part of Back to Home, a project launched after the August floods, the college is building sustainable and cost-effective houses on the island.
Funded by the alumni and designed by the TKM School of Architecture, the houses have a construction style suiting the topography and environmental concerns of Munroe Thuruthu.
“We will be installing a board at the venue depicting all the challenges faced by the islanders. There will be fliers and banners too, so that the message reaches maximum people,” he adds.
