Doha-Qatar: Bunts Qatar, a united forum of all the Bunts in Qatar celebrated its 5th annual day in the presence of ace Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty and Parliament secretary MLA Shakunthala Shetty in the Giwana Ballroom hall of the Hotel Radission Blu here on Friday, November 18.
Indian Ambassador to Qatar P Kumaran was chief guest of the evening and Bollywood star and entrepreneur Suniel Shetty and his wife Mana, Puttur MLA and Parliament Secretary Shakuntala Shetty graced the occasion as Guest of Honour.
The evening programme began with a keynote address from Bunts Qatar cultural secretary Chaithali Uday Shetty. Thereafter, Qatar’s renowned and able compere Padmashree Shetty took over the reins of the evening’s proceedings. After the prayer hymn was sung by visiting singers Shilpa Venkatesh and Nishan Rai, the guest of honour of the day Shakuntala Shetty, Bunts Qatar founding president Ravi Shetty, Bunts Qatar president Navneet Shetty, vice-president Ramachandra Shetty, general secretary Roshan Shetty and Uday Shetty, MD of Vibrant Trading, one of the main sponsors of the day, gave a formal opening to the programme by lighting the lamp.
The cultural programme began with the presentation of songs by young talented singers Shilpa Venkatesh and Nishan Rai. Both the singers mesmerized the audience with their melodious singing and kept the audience ebullience till the end of the program.
Bunts Qatar members ladies and children presented a beautiful dance which kept the hall sprightly. But the highlight of the first session was a fusion dance conceptualized and presented by Bunts Qatar talents, which depicted the Navras of dance and art in a non-stop display of spectacular choreography. It was a power-packed performance that won a standing ovation from the audience.
A beautiful stage programme was held, Bunts Qatar president Navneet Shetty and vice president Ramachandra Shetty escorted the Chief of the evening P.Kumaran to the stage, followed by the guests of honour of the evening Suniel Shetty and Shakuntala Shetty. General Secretary Roshan Shetty and Cultural secretary Chaithali Uday Shetty escorted the main sponsors of the evening Ravi Shetty of ATS Qatar and Uday Shetty of Vibrant Trading to the stage.
Welcoming the gathering, president Navneet Shetty expressed his gratitude to the guests of the evening for accepting Bunts Qatar’s invitation and gracing the annual day despite their busy schedule. He made a special mention of the charismatic leader the late Prakashchandra Ajila who had passed away last year while he was the president of Bunts Qatar. He informed that in beginning this year, Bunts Qatar had renamed its annual ‘Seva Sampada’ award as ‘Prakashchandra Ajila Seva Sampada Award’ in memory of Ajila who had not just been a prominent Bunt, but a great human being as well.
Bunts Qatar founder president Ravi Shetty in his address said that an organization’s role is not just hosting and presenting cultural programmes, get-togethers, picnics etc. “An organization should have social responsibility. It should recognize the people and their work and should bring forth those who are unsung despite their stellar contribution to various causes. I was impressed the way Karnataka Muslim Welfare Association (KMCA) Qatar recently honoured a humble man who has been rendering yeoman’s service to expat Indian community in Qatar for the last 15 years and more and who has always stayed away from glare and publicity. This is the role of an organization that we recognize those persons who contribute to the society in their own way, those talents who relentlessly put in hard strides and yet remain on the background due to lack of proper support and guidance etc. Let’s recognize such people and highlight their achievements,” he said.
Chief guest of the evening P Kumaran, the Indian Ambassador to Qatar hailed the efforts of Bunts Qatar in uniting the community and recognizing various talents and exhorted them to continue their good work.
Meanwhile students excelling in academics and sports were honored with plagues. The awardees were Neha Shetty, Samiksha Shetty, Srishti Shetty, Daksha Shetty, Krisha Shetty, Dhiya Shetty, Punya Shetty, Kamalika Rai, Achira Shetty, Disha Shetty, Shrest Shetty, Dhanya Kumar, Pranav Shetty, Rachana Shetty, Sahil Shetty and Prithvi Shetty.
Guests of the honour Shakuntala Shetty and Suniel Shetty were honoured on the occasion by the Bunts Qatar for their contribution to society through their work and service. Both were draped with a shawl and were presented with fruits and flowers, citation and memento. Both were also felicitated on the occasion by heads of other Karnataka-based associations in Qatar such as Mangalore Cricket Club (MCC), Karnataka Muslim Welfare Association (KMCA), Karnataka Sangha Qatar (KSQ) and South Kanara Muslim Welfare Association (SKMWA). Before the presentation of the honour, Shakuntala Shetty was introduced to the gathering by Seetharam Shetty while Suniel Shetty was introduced by Deepak Shetty.
Accepting the honour bestowed on her Shakuntala Shetty, who is known for her oratory skills delivered a meaningful message to the audience. “I thank Bunts Qatar for inviting me all the way from India and honouring me for whatever little work that I have done through social work and political power in the last few years. Whatever I am today, this credit goes to my roots in the Bunts community and in Karnataka. Today we are talking about women’s empowerment, but Bunts community always gave power in the hands of the women in their household as well as community. That’s why women are considered driving force and leaders in the Bunts community which has enabled us to scale greater heights in all spheres of life,” she added. She also urged the parents to inculcate humane values in their children and teach them to nurture love for their homeland, culture and traditions so that when these children grow up in the years, they pass on these values, culture and traditions to the next generations.
Suniel Shetty in his speech remembered late Prakashchandra Ajila who had been inviting him to grace Bunts Qatar annual day in Qatar. “He kept on inviting me whenever we met. But due to my tight schedule I could not come. But the last time I met him, I assured him that I would make it in the year 2016. But sadly he is no more with us and I am sad that I could not come to Qatar when he was still around,” he said. He had special word of praise for young visiting artistes Shilpa Venkatesh and Nishan Rai. “Both of you have been superb today and I am truly happy to see such talent in our community. Your performance is not short of any professional artistes. You should get more opportunities and bigger platform to exhibit your extraordinary talents. Please be assured that I will see to it that both of you get opportunities in bigger stages in the future. I will do my best to see that you scale greater heights in the coming years,” he assured them. Later Suniel Shetty had an interaction session with the audience wherein audience was given an opportunity to ask questions to him on any topic.
Two prominent expats in Qatar V S Mannangi, former president of Karnataka Sangha and Niyaz Ahmed, president of Karnataka Muslim Welfare Association were conferred with Prakashchandra Ajila Seva Sampada Award-2016’ for their service to community. Nithyananda Shetty introduced the honorees.
Ravi Shetty, president of Tulu Koota Qatar and founder president of Bunts Qatar was also felicitated on the occasion by Bunts Puttur.
General Secretary Roshan Shetty read out the annual report and Chaithali Uday Shetty proposed the vote of thanks.
After the formal stage programme, the cultural program again made peak prevalence with Bunts ladies performance on skit “Kudla Kundapura Express” and medley songs dance performance. Nishan Rai and Shilpa entertained the audience again with hit Hindi and Kannada numbers one after the other and the audience hit the dance floor asking for more.
Padmashree Shetty and Nityanand Shetty compered the evening with masterly command over the proceedings and kept the ball room feisty. The annual day concluded with palatable dinner.
