GUWAHATI, Jan 11 � For participants at the 19th National Youth Festival in Guwahati, the trip was more of a myth buster, as climatic conditions, pace of development and law and order situation were not the same as they had preconceived. The five-day festival is witnessing the convergence of more than 2,000 youths from across the country.
Amid the tight schedules of various competitive and non- competitive events as well as camps and conventions, teams of young students are visiting some of the cultural, religious and heritage sites of the city to explore it in their own way.
The closing ceremony of the festival, to be held tomorrow at the Nehru Stadium, would be attended by Union Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh who arrived today to take part in the festival. Besides, special attraction of the valedictory function would be sporting legends MC Mary Kom, Sushil Kumar, Virender Sehwag, Jwala Gutta, Dipankar Bhattacharjee and Arunima Sinha.
For S Gayathri and R Suriya, who have come from Pondicherry, the pleasant climate of Guwahati was nothing less than a surprise. �We had heard that the North Eastern States have extreme weather conditions, but fortunately, we have got a very pleasant weather in Guwahati. Moreover, prior to our visit, we were apprehensive about the law and order situation, but our stay here has been very comfortable and secure,� said S Gayathri, an NSS volunteer participating in the festival.
�The traditional dance forms of Assam and the North East are very attractive. Our teams, too, would be performing Silambam and Kaaliattam dances,� said R Arun from Pondicherry.
Enthusiasm and gaiety marked all the venues of the event. Presenting the Farwahi dance of Awadh, a team of Utter Pradesh visited the Kamakhya temple on Saturday. �We heard that Assam is not safe for Hindi-speaking people. However, we saw a large number of Hindi-speaking people in the temple and also on the streets,� said Pramod Yadav of Faisabad, UP.
�We tasted delicacies food like momos and coconut laddu. Guwahati is a modern city with all the amenities, which we did not expect to see,� said a young participant from Andhra Pradesh.
