The Indian culture frenzy has been taking over the Egyptian society for the past few years. A close follow-up with the Indian sceneries, traditions, and artistic scene is currently being paid attention to as much as the Egyptian ones, if not more, which prompted the Indian embassy in Cairo to launch its annual art competition ‘Glimpses of India’.
The embassy held its prize distribution ceremony on Sunday, with the attendance of the renowned actress Merna Waleed, who awarded the prizes along with the Indian ambassador Rahul Kulshreshth at the Balloon Theatre in Cairo.
Glimpses of India is a drawing competition for young children which has been held every year for the past 24 years, coinciding with the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, to commemorate his achievements as the father of the Indian nation. The event is annually organised by the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC).
The competition encourages children to draw sceneries of Indian festivals, art forms, monuments, touristic places and monuments as well as image of the India of their dreams.
Glimpses of India also commemorates Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first minister of education in independent India.
The 24th edition of the competition was held this year from 13-18 November throughout 19 Egyptian governorates.
“The competition received an overwhelming response. Over 13,000 children aged between 6-18 years from more than 1,800 schools participated in the competition,” stated the Indian embassy in Cairo in a press release.
Several awards were granted to 320 winners in general categories, of whom 25 are children with special needs who were felicitated to improve their talents. The winners were chosen by a nine-member independent jury.
The jury awarded different winners of various governorates on 4-6 December in Mansoura and Ismailia.