A winning way with words

``FOR ME, it is not the end that matters, but the means... An honest route that does not reach the goal is far better than choosing a hypocritical means to fame.''

Those were the winning words that helped Smitha Gopinath win a trip to London. On the penultimate day of the Students' Book Fair on Sunday, the student from Chinmaya Vidyalaya was all smiles as she posed for a photograph with the judges - Dr. R. Natarajan, Director, IIT-Madras, Sr. Helen Vincent, former Principal, Stella Maris College, and Mr. K. Ravindran, former IPS officer. She had won the `Talk Your Way to London' oratorical competition in a closely fought final.

The talk on ``Hypocrisy or Honesty - Which paves the way for success?'' lasted five minutes, and Smitha had the audience listening with a blistering attack on leaders who had ``misused power''. She cited the examples of Adolf Hitler and Indira Gandhi.

Ten finalists from various schools were shortlisted from 50 participants after the first round. The judges had a tough time deciding on the winner as it was a close finish.

Sunil Chandrasekhar of DAV Public School, speaking on ``Is Child Labour Unavoidable?'' held parents responsible for `child delinquency'. To a question posed by the judges as to whether child labour increased the country's productivity, he replied that it also led to the loss of young lives.

Srijanani Bhaskar, Kendriya Vidyalaya, CLRI, felt that a faulty economic policy, an uninspiring work atmosphere and exploitation of talent, were the reasons for the brain drain.

The Chennai Corporation's move to privatise conservancy operations came in for criticism from A. P. Siddharth of Bhavan's Rajaji Vidyashram, who said the country lacked civic pride, the pointer being a Singapore-based company, CES-ONYX removing the city's garbage.

Other topics given to the finalists were on subjects such as unity and integrity of the nation, its diversity, cleanliness and civic awareness.

By Saptarshi Bhattacharya

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Section  : Features