Clarence Pinto
Daijiworld Media Network - Muscat
Muscat, Nov 13: It was the traditional Manglorean look with mango leaves, banana stems, tender coconuts, fresh flowers from Mangalore and colourful rangoli that welcomed almost 600 Billawa community members who had gathered in large numbers to celebrate the second Anniversary of Oman Billawas at The Grand Hall, Hotel Al Falaj, in Muscat recently.
Brahma Shri Narayana Guru’s altar was beautifully decorated by Vishwanath Suvarna, along with his team. The programme started with lighting of the lamp by the Founding Committee members, and Ashok Suvarna, SK Poojary, and Dr Anchan CK, and Umesh Bantwal, along with the Working Committee members, M/s AJ Sanil, Guruprasad Amin, Gangadhar Poojary, H Suhan, Suchethana Anchan, Ramakrishna and Kavitha Sanil.
The following elite group of VIP’s were present to grace the occasion and all were felicitated by Oman Billawas:
Dr Satish Nambiar President, Indian Social Club, Muscat by Anand J Sanil
From India:
Suresh Poojary, President – Billawa Balaga by Ashok Suvarna and flower bouquet by Rashmi Gangadhar
Naveen Chandra Suvarna President - Akhila Bharitiya Billawara Union / Narayana Guru Education Trust by K Poojary and flower bouquet by Vaishali Ashok.
Prof Tukaram Poojary and Prof Ashalatha Poojary, Rani Abbakka Tulu Adhyayana Kendra / Tulu Baduku Vasthu Sangrahalaya by Umesh Bantwal and flower bouquet by Kavita R Sanil.
Dr Ganesh Amin Sankamar, Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award Winner by Dr Anchan CK.
Chennakeshava, Trustee – Shree Narayana Guru Charitable Trust by H Suhan
Chandrasekhar Nanil Trustee – Shree Narayana Guru Charitable Trust by Narayana Poojary
Jayanand, Trustee – Shree Narayana Guru Charitable Trust by Jayanth Salian
From Gulf:
Daya Kirodian, Co-founder of Billawa Balaga, Bahrain by Guru Prasad Amin
Raj Kumar, President – Gulf Billawas and Kannada Sangha, Bahrain by Gangadhar Poojary
Krishna Anchan, Hon President, Bahrain Billawas by Krishna Prasad
Suchit Kumar, Ex- President, Gulf Billawas by Gangadhar Poojary
Jitendra Suvarna, President – Billawas Dubai and Northern Emirates by Dr Praveen Kumar
Praveen Kumar Attavar, Vice President - Billawas Dubai and Northern Emirates by
Ramakrishna
Uday Kumar Kateel, Secretary - Billawas Dubai and Northern Emirates by Uday Kumar
Ashok Anchan By Umesh - Sohar
Diwakar Poojary, Gen Sec – Qatar Billawas by Kushal Bangera
Ashok Suvarna in his welcome address extended a warm welcome to the VIP’s and the audience. He also briefly touched upon the achievements and activities of Oman Billawas during the past year and also our plans for the future. Suvarna, also congratulated all the team members for their contribution and hard work to make the occasion a grand affiair.
A minute’s silence was observed in fond memory of our late President Shri PB Alke, after which Sudhir Kumar from Sohar spoke about the evolution of Oman Billawas.
The Chief guest for the day, Dr Sathish Nambiar, along with and Suresh Poojary, and Navinchandrs Suvarna all the other invited guests, Founding Members and Working Committee members, inaugurated the function by lighting the lamp on stage. Dr Sathish Nambiar then spoke a few words encouraging the Oman Billawas in their endeavours and appreciated their the hard work for the show as well as their social commitment towards the community.
Suresh Poojary in his speech, stressed the importance of education and the need to encourage this among our younger generation. In his speech, he announced his desire to contribute an amount of Rs 100,000/- to the activities of Billawas in Oman. Naveen Chandra Suvarna, spoke about the need for our community members to take the lead in various activities. Ganesh Amin Sankamar popular speaker of tulunadu spoke about the evolution of billawas. Jayanand spoke about the activities of Shree Gurunarayana Charitable trust in Surathkal and presented a short video clip on the same. Dr Thukaram Poojary said that education should be the prime focus which every parent should take as first priority in bringing up the children. Prof. Ashalatha Poojary said that It is time that we ladies accept the challenges
and contribute our might in making the family with right value based.
All the other VIP’s also spoke a few words congratulating Oman Billawas on their 2nd Anniversary and encouraging them in their future endeavours.
The Chief Guest and all VIP guests were then honoured with the presentation of a shawl and memento by the Founding Committee members, Working Committee members and other prominent members of our Community.
A Souvenir prepared to commemorate this occasion was released by the Chief Guest and copies of the same was presented to the VIP’s. Messages from well wishers in India, the Gulf as well as Oman along with all the previous years’ activities of Oman Billawas are displayed in this souvenir. Relevant pictures captured on these occasions are also nicely displayed in the souvenir. All members were handed over copies of this souvenir subsequently.
Before the lunch break, AJ Sanil thanked the Chief guest and all the VIP’s who had accepted our invitation to attend our 2nd Anniversary celebrations. He also took this opportunity to thank all our Corporate well wishers who had come forward to help us and also to our members who had contributed their mite to bring out the Souvenir. All members and their families who had come forward to participate in the days activities and arrangements were profusely thanked by Sanil, without whose contributions this function would not have taken off.
The cultural activities commenced after a sumptuous lunch at the Al Falaj Hotel along with speciality dishes of Mangalore also separately organized.
Shreya Bangera, as usual started the cultural activities with her performance of an Odissi dance. This was followed by a Kannada dance ballet “ Naada Geethe” by our Children – M/s Gowri Gangadhar, Mithali Sudhir, Isha Kotian, Spoorthy Uppoor, Mihika Anchan, Prachi Sandeep, Jhanvi Kotian, Prajnya Dinesh, Meghna Dinesh, Krithika poojary,Sukhada Mohite,Samarth Suvarna, Vishhav Poojary, Rakshit Poojary, Ronak Suvarna, Sharan Bantwal, Shashwath Uday, Shlok Ail, Kiran K Anchan, Diya Kotian,Ashmith Amin,Swasti Uppoor,Prishya Sudheer, Sai Gyan and Smt Preeti Uday, directed by Neel Anchan and Suchethana. Next, the Sohar team came up with a Hindi folk dance by M/s Harish Suvarna, Vidya Harish. Nitin Raj, Anitha Ravikanth, Anil Kumar, Vijaya Laxmi Vittal, Sanath Kumar Bangera and Varsha Umesh.
Umesh Jeppu along with M/s Gangadhar Poojary, Thilothama Poojary, Sridhar Amin and Rakshit Poojary performed a hilarious short Tulu skit “Kalpuna Malla Atthe Kalpauna Malla”, directed by Prema Umesh, which was enjoyed by all.
Suvi Bangara, then choreographed a beautiful ramp walk by our ladies – “The Brides of India”, which had the ladies sashaying down the ramp in exquisite bridal dresses and jewellery. M/s Chandini Sudhir, Rashmi Gangadhar, Prafulla Shankar, Kripa Sujith, Prathima Sukumar, Dr Naina Hemachandra, Sapna Vittal, Thilothama Gangadhar, Amitha Sridhar, Anita Shanker Uppoor, Sheetal Sudesh, Pooja Shiv Prakash, Shiva Prakash, and Baby Prisha Sudheer were dazzling in their costumes.
The Sohar team came next with a skit in Tulu – “Bhaktha Kanakadasa”, which had beautiful props put up, with M/s Umesh, Vittal Poojary, Mast Hrithik, Praveen Kumar, Prashanth Suvarna, Dinesh Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Vasanth, Anand, Chandra, Anil, Harish and family and Ravikanth and family nicely bringing out the famous incident of “Bhaktha Kanaka” getting a darshan of Lord Krishna. This was followed M/s Harish Suvarna, Nitin Raj, Anitha Ravikanth, Varsha Umesh, Anil Kumar, Vijaya Laxmi Vittal, Sanath Kumar Bangera, Chandra Poojary, Prashanth Suvarna, Jitendra Kotian,Santhosh Kumar, D C Sanil and Vittal Poojary from Sohar performing a dance depicting a kids classroom sequence.
The kids (M/s Gauri Gangadhar, Mihika Anchan, Mithali Sudhir,Prachi Sandeep, Janvi Kotian, Krithika Poojary, Spoorthy Uppoor, Prajnya Dinesh, Meghna Dinesh, Sukhada Mohite, Kiran K Anchan, Siddarth, Sharan Umesh, Samarth Suvarna, Rakshith Poojary, Ronak Suvarna, Shlok Ail, Shashwat Uday and Vishbhav Poojary) then put up a peppy “Fusion dance”, mixing a old Hindi song along with a latest Hindi number, to give a nice fusion of the old with the new. This was followed by a nice Bollywood dance by our ladies M/s Pramila Chandrakanth, Sheethal Sudesh, Bindu Mohithe, Dr Naina Hemachandra, and Amitha Sridhar. Both these dances were directed by Neel Anchan.
Ramakrishna and team ( M/s Guruprasad Amin, Mahesh Salian, Gitesh Sanil, Sunil Salian, Shamith, Vishwanath Suvarna, Naveen Kotian, Madhu put up a short drama on “Brahma Shree Narayana Guru”, which was appreciated by all.
The finale was the Yakshagana ballet performance by our youngsters – M/s Gautham Kotian, Kaushik Attavar, Shreyas Poojary, Karthik Kundar, Sridhar, Ms Akshatha, Mahesh Jeppu and Anubhav Anchan, wherin they depicted the slaying of the demon Mahishasura and Chanda - Munda, by goddess Durga. This was directed by Gangadhar Poojary and brought in thunderous applause from the audience.
A Souvenir prepared to commemorate this occasion was released by the Chief Guest and copies of the same was presented to the VIP’s. Messages from well wishers in India, the Gulf as well as Oman along with all the previous years’ activities of Oman Billawas are displayed in this souvenir. Relevant pictures captured on these occasions are also nicely displayed in the souvenir. All members were handed over copies of this souvenir subsequently. Our sincere thanks to Dr.Anchan C K for the editorial contents, the concept and ensuring that Souvenir carries the value and brings in the unity of Oman Billawas, our special thanks to the team members Madhu Suvarna, Shankar Uppoor, Anand Sanil, H Suhan, Kushal Bangera, Umesh Bantwal, K N Anchan and Sujith Anchan for ensuring the entire Souvenir is ready within the stipulated time.
The lucky audience prizes, saw 9 high value / utility prizes being given away to the lucky few, after which the crowd dispersed, after having enjoyed a great day along with members of the community. The presenter of the day was M/s Al Amin Golden Enterprises, the silver sponsors were M/s ArabianGulf Roadways, Al Harith Trading Co., Bank Muscat, Maxcell, Lulu Hyper Market, Blue Line Shipping Co., Al Turki Enterprises, Oman UAE Exchange, Al Raha – Poly Products, Al Wajah Trading Co., Musandam Money Exchange. The Bronze Sponsors were M/s Salman Stores, Bank Dhofar, Services and Trade LLC, World Wide Business House, Al Fairuz Trading, Rafique Modern Peace Co., Athaiba Muscat. Life Insurance Corporation, Bank Of Baroda, Oman Trading Establishment, Oman Orix Leasing Co., Middle East Marketing Services LLC, Malabar Gold, Sarco-Samsung, Muscat Pharmacy, Al Ansari Trading, Dharamsey Nensey Bipin Bhai, Areej Vegetables Oil And Derivatives, Al Watan Daily.