Syeda Amtul Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — NRIs from Karnataka here celebrated the 57th year of their state formation as "Rajyotsava Day" at the Indian Consulate on November 29. Prabhat K Jain, consul for labor affairs, attended the function as the chief guest. Vishwanath Hegde, chief patron of the forum, was the guest of honor while Ilyas Momin, member of Indian International School Management Committee Jeddah, and Iqbal Yousuf, founder of Jamiatul Falah, were special guests. The program was inaugurated with the traditional lamp lighting followed by a song by Nagarathna Prasad and her group. Krish Jangal, president of the forum, officially welcomed all the guests, and narrated the formation of Karnataka and the functioning of the KNRI Forum, and requested all Kannadigas to come forward and join hands for the betterment of the poor and downtrodden in Karnataka. Profile presentation of the Karnataka NRI Forum was delivered by Syed Nasir Khursheed general secretary of the forum, in which he explained the aims, objectives and highlighted the achievements of helping the needy kannadigas by the forum since its inception. Consul P K Jain appreciated the social activities, hard work and dedication of Karnataka residents toward their state community in Saudi Arabia and in India. He advised the forum members to extend their social activities to other members of the Indian community, and appreciated the speedy action taken by one of the KNRI forum members to help a needy Kannadiga in Jeddah. Momin highlighted the importance of charity and appreciated the objectives of the KNRI forum. Yusuf described Karnataka as a rich tourist attraction with natural beauty, flora and fauna, historical monuments and exotic beaches. Programs choreographed by Sabu Chandra, Roshan Rodrigues and others were enjoyed by the audience. All-time favorite Kannada and Hindi songs sung by Mohammed Kaleem, Mohammed Saif, Mohsin, Rehana, Nidhi and others entertained the gathering. A quiz competition by master of the ceremony Niaz Ahmed got an enthusiastic response from the audience. Manzoor Ahmed, vice president, and Sri Harsha, treasurer of the forum, expressed their happiness as this program gave a better platform to meet all Kannadigas. According to Yashwanth Amin, joint coordinator, and Aijaz Ahmed, meeting coordinator, Rajyotsava celebration here created an environment usually witnessed in India. Shaikh Saoud, Vishwanath Karkera and Mohammed Sahib said the event was successfully organized because of the untiring team efforts of all the forum members and encouragement given by Kannadigas. Some interesting games were organized by a team lead by Alok Pattar, IT coordinator, of the forum. Vote of thanks was delivered by Mohammed Mansoor, event manager of the function, and the program concluded with the national anthem.
