Event manager Sabu Chandran welcomes the guests. Sitting on the dais are (from left) KNRI Forum President Roshan Rodrigues, Guest of Honor Vishwanath Hegde, Chief Guest Consul Dr. Irshad Ahmed, Guest of Honor Shoaib Saeed, Forum General Secretary Syed Nasir Khursheed and Joint Secretary Mohsin Khan. — Courtesy photo JEDDAH — Expatriate residents from the southern Indian state of Karnataka celebrated the annual Karnataka Day at the Indian Consulate here recently with colorful events. The audience was treated to an action-packed evening filled with awards, lucky draws, music, dances, folklore, games, a quiz competition and a sumptuous dinner. The program was organized by the Karnataka Non-Resident Indian (KNRI) Forum, Jeddah. Dr. Irshad Ahmed, consul for press and information, graced the event as chief guest. Vishwanath Hegde, MD of Intermodel Services SA and Shoaib Saeed of REDTAG were the guests of honor. Speaking to the mammoth crowd attending the event, Ahmed complimented the KNRI Forum for its activities devoted to the welfare of the poor and the needy. The president of the forum, Roshan Rodrigues, spoke about dedication of the forum members toward a social cause despite their busy schedules. Syed Nasir Khursheed, general secretary, made a detailed presentation on the activities of the forum since its inception. The program started with the recitation of the Holy Qur'an by Saoud Sheikh. Sabu Chandran, the event manager, formally welcomed the guests and audience. The cultural programs began with the traditional Kannada opening hit from the film Gandhada Gudi sung by Mohammed Kaleem. It was followed by a group song from the 1950s hit “Yeh Desh hai veer jawanon ka” from Naya Daur sung by Kaleem, Mohammed Saif and Mohammed Nawaz Shareef. Madhuri Manjappa, Anitha Jangal, Vijayalakshmi, Shalmali Sudhir, Jaya S., Kavitha Naik, Kaleem and Nawaz rendered the traditional welcome song in Kannada. Then came two dances performed by children of different age groups and choreographed by renowned dance instructor Pushpa Suresh. One of the dances showcased the antiquity, culture and the heritage of Karnataka while the other was a colorful and a foot-tapping dance from the state of Rajasthan. Sudha Raju choreographed two dances, one of which was based on a medley of Hindi film music and the other a patriotic number performed by children. There were three more dances choreographed to the tune of popular Bollywood numbers, Tu Tu Tu Meri from the film Bang Bang, Lovely from the super hit film Happy New Year and Sari ke fallsa from the film R. Rajkumar. Next was a unique action song performed by various artists choreographed by Movin Rego. The audience received all the dance items with big applause. Kaleem, Saif, Nawaz Shareef, Mohsin Khan and Rehna Saleem treated the audience to some melodious and foot-tapping Hindi and Kannada songs from old and new movies. Popular numbers like “Meri Man Ki Ganga” from the 60s hit Sangam, “Aaj Kal Tere Mere Pyar Ke Charche” from the Shammi Kapoor starrer Brahmachari, “Jaane Kaise Jab Kahan” from the Dilip Kumar-Amitabh Bachchan starrer Shakti, new songs “Muskuraane ki wajah tum ho” from City Lights, Suno na Sange mar mar from Youngistan, songs from the movie Khamoshiyan and Kannada songs from Bindaas and Navagraha were big hits with both the young and the old. Forum President Roshan Rodrigues also sang a song from his music album, Alshellon, which was penned and composed by him. Aijaz Ahmed, Syed Haseeb, Faizee Shaikh and Alok Pattar welcomed the audience. Manzur Ahmed and Habeebullah were responsible for food and refreshments. Mohammed Saleem Khalifa, Imtiaz Ahmed, Mukaram Khan and Shakeel Ahmed distributed prizes after the raffle draw. Praveen Netrekar was the official photographer for the event. Niaz Ahmed, one of the program anchors, conducted the popular Karnataka quiz with attractive prizes for the winners. A “scratch a recharge card” contest was held where the prizes were re-charge cards from STC, Mobily and Zain. Games for children with attractive prizes were conducted by Krish Jangal and Peter Mascerhanhes. Sahana Manjappa joined Niaz in compering the program. Mohammed Arif coordinated the event at the venue. A raffle draw was held at the end of the event with attractive prizes sponsored by EMAX. The bumper prize, an LED TV, was won by Masood Soherwardy from Gulbarga. The organizing committee thanked the Gold sponsors REDTAG and Intermodel Services SA and co-sponsors Emax, Joyalukas, RF Developers, India Gate Restaurant, Premier Food Corporation, AB Industrial Supply, Master Trading and Contracting, Innovative Media Access Solutions IMAS, Binzagar and Jamyatul Falah. Regional Manager of the REDTAG Shoeb Saeed expressed his happiness over sponsoring the event. He said Karnataka expatriates have achieved good name in the Kingdom by their discipline. The forum commended Ilyas Momin for his efforts to introduce Kannada lessons in International Indian School, Jeddah, and it appreciated the help he received from Vishwanath Karkera. Vishwanath Hegde of Intermodel Services, who is the chief patron of KNRI Forum, appreciated the initiative taken by KNRI Forum to introduce Kannada in IISJ in coordination with the school management. He praised IISJ Principal Syed Masood Ahamad for considering the request. Yashwanth Amin delivered the vote of thanks and the event concluded with recitation of the national anthem. — SG
