Media Release
Oman, Apr 19: Over 500 Oman Billawa members along with their families gathered at the Grand Hall, Al Falaj Hotel, on April 13, to participate in the 9th annual family get-together. The entrance to the hall was beautifully decorated by Guruprasad Amin and his team, giving it a festive look. The altar and the traditional lamp were nicely decked in flowers by Vishwanath and his team.
The programme commenced with the traditional lighting of the lamp by the president, SK Poojary, vice-presidents and committee members of Oman Billawas.
The activities of the evening commenced with the invocation of Lord Ganesh devotional sloka by Umesh Jeppu. Karthik Kundar, along with Swapnil Anchan and Trishaan Shivaprakash performed an impressive Yakshagana, which was designed and choreographed by Karthik Kundar himself. This Yakshagana, any Mangalorean's delight, was very well applauded.
Next to come on stage was the young and talented Trisha Rajendra from Sohar, who displayed a highly remarkable Bharatanatyam performance. This was choreographed by M/s Amma Institute from Sohar. Taandavam, the divine dance of Lord Shiva, was witnessed on stage in the form of TandavNrithya in an exhilarating performance by TejeshPoojary, choreographed by him.
The exuberance and innocence of the tiny tots of Oman Billawas was showcased by a Bollywood dance ‘Tukur Tukur’, winning the hearts of everyone present that evening. This dance was put together by choreographer Prathiksha Praveen Kumar. The children who performed were Pramad Kajekar, Trishaan Shivaprakash, HavishNagesh, Suthirth Chandresh, Vivaan Sukumar, Divit Guruprasad, Navya Shivanand, Lisha Harish and Ritisha Shiriya.
‘Ghoomar’, the popular Rajasthani folk dance was brought to life on stage very gracefully by Pooja Shivaprakash and Anuradha Chandresh. This captivating duet was
choreographed by Pooja Shivaprakash.
‘Munna Michael’, a self-choreographed solo dance, performed by Vivan Harish Suvarna of Sohar, was indeed spirited and peppy.
Next, a vibrant Punjabi dance ‘Bangude Express’, so bright and cheerful in pink and green, was performed by the young children Pavana Harish, Diya Guruprasad, Apoorvi Vijay, Tanvi C S Poojary, Sanabhi Hemachandra, Shamitha Hariprasad, Tvisha Kajekar, Anooki R Manjeshwar, Manya Shivanand, Shreeyash Kishan, Nishanth R Salian and Purvik M S. This lively dance was choreographed by Tejesh Poojary, bringing out the hidden talent in the children.
‘Gujarati Kites’ Kavya S Amin, Merlyn M Salian and Ashwini Manjeshwar swayed to the garba beats of ‘Udhi Udhi Jaaye’, a very soothing and beautiful performance, bringing in a Gujarati flavour into the evening. This was choreographed by Kavya S Amin.
Our kids from Sohar then put up a beautiful group dance to the Bollywood tune of ‘Swag se Swagath’. Niharika Umesh, Sinchana Suresh, Vihan Harish, Dritik Rajendra, Trisha Rajendra, Jashan Jagathpal, Shanchith Suresh, Gagan Jagatpal and Swanik Rajendra were perfectly choreographed by Don Bosco from Sohar. This talented group kept the audience spellbound by their energetic performance.
Then came the surprise item of the evening- a parody dance to the Malayalam track "Jimikki Kamal" that had the audience in frenzy just before the close of the afternoon session. The cultural team Suchethana Anchan, Madhuri Suvarna, Prapulla Shanker, Manuja Suhan, Neel Anchan, Kavitha Sanil and Suvi Bangara danced along with Akshatha Rishikesh Amin, Prathiksha Praveen Kumar, Mahesh Salian, Raj Sanil, Sridhar Amin, Arun Bangera, Rishikesh Amin, Rohit Manjeshwar and Surendra Amin. This was choreographed by Rishikesh Amin with able support from Prathiksha Praveen Kumar and Akshatha Rishikesh Amin.
The programme continued into the evening after a short tea-break, with the president S K Poojary addressing the gathering. While expressing his happiness over the various activies of Oman Billawas over the last year, S K Poojary stressed upon the various philanthropic activities that Oman Billawas had been involved in. He emphasized the words of Shree Narayan Guru on the importance of education and complimented Oman Billawas who have, with the support of all its members, been providing scholarships to needy children in Mangalore to continue their education. Last year having provided education scholarships to 100 students, this year too he indicated that 100 students would continue to be provided scholarships with the active cooperation of Sree Guru Charitable Trust, Surathkal.
Shankar Uppoor, general secretary of Oman Billawas updated the members on the various activities of Oman Billawas in the past year.
Sudhir Kumar of Sohar then addressed the gathering, stressing the importance of all of us working together as a team.
Dr Anchan C K, vice-president of Oman Billawas in his address emphasized the importance of youth progression and the need for all of us to encourage our youngsters to perform better and strive to achieve higher accolades.
The following ‘Young Achievers’ among the children of Oman Billawas were felicitated:
1. Neev Jayaprakash Poojary – represented Oman under 16 cricket team in the ACC 7 Nation tournament in Sharjah as well as represented ISWK in the under 19 OCCC league.
2. Kiran K Anchan – topper in performance management and taxation UK in ACCA, for the year 2016-17.
3. Rajeshwari Kishan - school topper in XII Grade CBSE, commerce stream, from Indian School Nizwa, for the academic year 2016-17.
4. Shlok Hemachandra Ail – winner in CBSE Oman cluster and Open Junior Tennis tournaments under 18 category.
All the choreographers who were part of the various programmes during this function were presented with a memento acknowledging their contribution in the various activities during the day.
Mementos were also presented to Raj Sanil (Sound and Music), Walter Mendonca (Play Director), Shankar Poojary (Stage and Settings), Suchethana Anchan (Master of Ceremony), UmeshJeppu (Master of Ceremony) and Harish Poojary(Master of Ceremony).
Arun Bangera and Kaushik Salian were also presented with mementos acknowledging their efforts in coaching the ladies Throwball team to glory, by winning the first place in the recently concluded, Dr Shekar Salian Memorial Throwball competition. Each of the team members, Suchethana K Anchan, Anusha Arun, Akshatha Rishi, Anita Shanker, Anusha Deepak, Ashwini Rohidas, Jaya Kotian, Shoba Bangera, Pooja Shivaprakash and Shalini (guest player) were presented with medals, acknowledging their achievement.
The winning team ‘Yuva Biruver’ and runner-up team ‘Namma Biruver’ of the Annual Oman Billawas Cricket tournament 2018, along with their team members were presented with trophies and medals. Trophies were also presented to the best performers in the tournament - to Jeevan of Yuva Biruver being the 'Best Bowler', Deekshith of Yuva
Biruver, being the 'Best Batsman', Avinash of Yuva Biruver as the 'Man of the match' (Finals) and Satish Poojary of Namma Biruver for the 'Man of the Series'. The major sponsors who had contributed in cash as well as kind for the function as well as for the cricket tournament were then felicitated by the president and committee members, by presenting them with flower bouquets.
The entertainment programme then continued with a scintillating performance to the song ‘Bellam Bellagam’ by the ladies – ‘Lightning Divas’, who really set the stage on fire. This performance by Kavitha C S Poojary, Poornima Vijay, Rajeshwari Kishan, Jahnvi Naveen Kotian, Prapulla Amin, Shobha Shivanand, Swasthi Uppoor, Kritika Poojary, Merlyn Manohar Salian and Ashwini R Manjeshwar was choreographed by Gokul Poojary and Kritika Poojary. It was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience.
Next was the evergreen, all-time favourite ‘Ekka Saka’ a dance by little girls, Pavana Harish, Diya Guruprasad, Apoorvi Vijay, Tanvi C S Poojary, Sanabhi Hemachandra, Shamitha Hariprasad, Tvisha Kajekar, Anooki R Manjeshwar, Manya Shivanand and Mahi Manohar Salian. This performance was choreographed by Prathiksha Praveen Kumar to perfection.
Next on stage were the ‘Three Idiots’ Gokul, Tejesh and Kritika, who came up with a mind-blowing, high energy performance to some really peppy Bollywood-mix numbers, which was thoroughly enjoyed by the entire audience. It was truly phenomenal. Gokul Poojary along with Kritika Poojary choreographed this performance.
Last, but definitely not the least, came the historical, musical drama ‘Gejjegiri Vaibhava’. This was based on the life and deeds of Koti and Chennayya, the legendary brave twin Biruva warriors. It has to be mentioned here that each actor enacted his/her role here with an almost professional flair! The dances too were very well appreciated. The drama instilled in everyone a sense of pride in our community and its rich history. It was staged to perfection by the following: Prema Bantwal, Prapulla Shankar, Umesh Jeppu, Surendra Anchan, Shivaprakash Kumpala, Sachin Udupi, Sudesh Poojary, Chandrika Nagesh, PurushothamPoojary, Sudesh Poojary, Sundar Poojary, Sharan Umesh, Pooja Shivaprakash, Anuradha Chandresh, Divya Surendra, Ashwini Purushotham, Karthik Kundar, Swapnil and Havish. Shankar Poojary was in charge of the stage and settings while Walter Mendonca directed the play which was conceived and presented by Prashanth Poojary. Vijay Kodialbail helped out the entire team with the make-up. Raj Sanil and Chandresh Poojary managed the background music. Here too, the dance was choreographed by Gokul Poojary and the Yakshagana by Karthik Kundar.
There were a host of talented singers, including Raj Sanil, Harish Sanil, Krishna Prasad, Deepika Prasad, Prema Umesh, Nishant, Kiran Anchan, Anuradha Chandresh, Madhu Suvarna, Gayathri Salian, Gokul Poojary, Neel Anchan, Sridhar Amin, Kavya Surendra Amin, Dr Anchan CK, Mahesh Salian, among others, who came out with some really melodious songs during the breaks in-between stage performances which had the audience enthralled, throughout the evening.
Thus, the audience was treated to a mesmerizing array of dance, historical drama and musical delights, thanks to super efforts from the cultural team of Suchethana Anchan, Neel Anchan, Suvi Bangara, KavithaSanil, Manuja Suhan, Prafulla Shankar and Madhuri Suvarna.
The curtains were drawn on an eventful day, with vice-president Dr Anchan C K thanking all the sponsors, committee members, coordinators of various activities along with all the volunteers and each of our members who had come together and joined hands in making the day an enjoyable and memorable one.
All the Billawa members along with their families were then treated to a sumptuous dinner.