Doha: Karnataka Muslim Cultural Association, a socio cultural community affiliated to the Indian Cultural Centre under the aegis of the Embassy of India, Qatar celebrated the 60th Karnataka Rajoytsava with traditional fervor followed by a cultural extravaganza at Al Maha-Boys Academy, Doha on November 6, Friday Evening.
Public TV channel founder and senior journalist H R Ranganath graced the occasion as a chief guest. Indian Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission R.K.Singh was Guest of Honour.
The program began with prayer by children’s group led by Ayesha Ibriaz. KMCA president Niyaz Ahmed and vice president Saquib Raza Khan escorted the chief guest to the dais. Main sponsor of the event, Satish from QDC and Imtiyaz Hasan from New Design Contracting and Transport were present on the dais.
The stage program followed with a welcome address by President Niyaz Ahmed. A one-minute tribute prayer was offered in remembrance of the great Kannada litterateur, research fellow Dr M M Kalburgi who was murdered a few months ago.
Addressing the gathering at the occasion, Guest of Honor RK Singh wished his best to all Qatar Kannadigas on their day of celebration.
Chief Guest Ranganath addressed the gathering in his unique style and passed on a beautiful message hailing the efforts of the expats in keeping alive the language and traditions of Karnataka even in the far off land. His talk received a thunderous applause. He urged everyone to keep the Kannada Language alive in the heart of the coming generations.
Meanwhile, a Hardcopy and softcopy of the KMCA souvenir ‘Pragati’ was unveiled on the occasion.
KMCA Ladies Wing coordinator Ruksana Muneer Sheikha then read out the names of quiz winners and then distributed the prizes to the winners of Explore Karnataka quiz competition held recently as a precursor to the Rajyotsava celebration. Quiz Masters Arun Kumar and Milan presented the prizes to the winners in the junior and senior category. KMCA honored the ladies team who won the cooking competition held at Safari Mall recently.
Neha Shetty, a young girl who recently won the inter-GCC badminton tournament and has climbed up to the top position in the GCC rankings was honored on the occasion by KMCA.
A Bangalore based SRV’s Ogara Qatar director Dr. Pradeep Jayaram introduced the Ogara group and shared information on Open Investment.
Continuing the tradition of honoring achievers, KMCA felicitated Dr. Sanjay Kudri, one of the senior expats from Karnataka who has been the pillar of strength of almost all the Karnataka-based associations in Qatar for long. Committee member Ismael read out the achievements of Dr. Sanjay Kudri.
Dr. Sanjay Kudri who is a veterinarian by profession is well known to all communities in Qatar. He is also a good cricket player who has shared his tenure with great Indian cricketers.
Mudassir Ahmed and Noor-Ul-Huda compered the formal function and Dana Asif proposed vote of thanks.
The function followed with the most awaited entertainment segment where multi-talented Om Ganesh entertained the audience with his magic, shadow play and taught them some simple magic tricks.
This was followed by Kannada Shayari Poet Asadullah Baig mesmerizing the crowds with his unique style of Shayari in Kannada, which entertained them thoroughly constantly chanting ‘wah wah’ with pleasure.
Karnataka Based Magician Sathish Hemmady, entertained the audiences with his unique ‘umbrella’ unwind act and ‘Talking Doll’ acts.
Vilas Nayak, a young Karnataka based speed painting artiste spread the joy of colors in the hearts of all the art lovers gathered there. He painted three different pieces at the occasion featuring Yakshagana Artist, Dr. Abdul Kalam and one on national integrity. Each of these was painted in 10-15 minutes. He was given applauded with a standing ovation by an astonished and excited gathering.
It was a unique blend of art and magic. An evening of fun and entertainment, the event was enjoyed by more than 400 people.
Qatar Design Consortium and National Trading & contracting were main sponsor of the event. Emco Qatar, Apollo Qatar were the associate sponsors of the function. President Niyaz Ahmed thanked all the sponsors at the event.
