Dubai: Alva's Virasat, Nudisiri to Go International with Maiden Events in UAE

Shodhan Prasad
Daijiworld Media Network - Dubai

Dubai, Jan 3: The nationally acclaimed Alva’s Virasat and Nudisiri will be going international with the maiden international event to be inaugurated in Dubai on Thursday January 31 and in Abu Dhabi on Friday February 1 with over 80 artistes from the Foundation flying from India to present this beautifully designed cultural festival.

Presidents and executive members of various regional community associations of Karnataka and Tulu Nadu along with well wishers and media representatives assembled at the Banquet Hall of Fortune Plaza on Tuesday January 1 at 7 pm to discuss and plan the cultural fest, at the meeting was called by Nama Tuluveru.

Shodhan Prasad welcomed the gathering and invited Moodbidri’s cultural architect, Dr Mohan Alva, chairman of Alva's Education Foundation, Abu Dhabi Karnataka Sangha president Sarvotham Shetty and chairman of Fotune Plaza Group of Hotels Pravin Shetty on to the dais. Sarvotham Shetty introduced and briefed Dr Mohan Alva and his Foundation’s contribution to Virasat and Nudisiri cultural festivals.  He also pointed out that because of Alva’s Cultural Festival, the name of Moodbidri is highlighted in the world map.

Later, Dr Mohan Alva spoke on the subject and said he was happy to have chosen UAE as the first country to host the first international Alva's event, followed by Bahrain, Muscat, Qatar, Malaysia and other countries. He explained in detail how he started these cultural festivals, what made him think of it and how his idea got support of people at the local as well as national levels.
 
The event tasted success year after year and now Virasat celebrates 20 years of its existence at the national level. He said that this cultural festival, 'Virasat', aims at igniting and spreading cultural awareness among the people not only at the local level but also internationally.  Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr Veerendra Heggade during his presidential address at the last Virasat event said that the aim of Virasat is to enable the formation of good, value-based human beings, which is the exact object of any religion too.

A meeting was also held in Abu Dhabi under the umbrella of Abu Dhabi Karnataka Sangha on December 31, 2012. Padmashree Dr B R Shetty presided the meeting along with president Sarvotham Shetty and leaders of various regional community associations of Karnataka and Tulu Nadu. After the briefings everybody unanimously welcomed the idea of this cultural festival and agreed to support.

With these meetings in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, there was a membership drive wherein all the leaders and guests signed off the membership fees which will enable them to facilitate easy access wherever Alva’s Virasat festival takes place.  Members have agreed to support this event in great spirits and conduct the same in the planned manner in UAE.  Dr Alva has already started the ground work and his representatives are already here to carry out other works needed to host the event.

As planned, the event will kick off in Dubai on Thursday January 31 at Al Nasr Leisureland Ice Rink, Dubai with the doors opening at 7 pm and the programme inauguration at 8 pm. In Abu Dhabi the programme will kick off on February 1 at Abu Dhabi Indian School Auditorium with the gates opening at 5 pm and inauguration at 6 pm.

There will be a variety of cultural programmes including dance, music and small skits throughout which will be presented by a whole group of cultural masters and around 80 students flying from India for this great event.  It will be a feast for the entire cultural heritage music lovers in UAE and will be open to all irrespective of caste, creed or nationality.  Dr Alva has requested full support from all the Tulu and Kannada community organisations in UAE to support this event.

The meeting was fruitful with lots of creative suggestions from leaders of various communities, and concluded with vote of thanks and dinner.

During the meet Dr Alva also mentioned about the Alva's Virasat-2013, a national-level cultural festival by Alva's Education Foundation which will be held in India from January 10 to 13 at Shobhabhavan in Mijar, Karnataka and said that there are plans to combine Alva's Virasat and Alva's Nudisiri as ‘Vishwa Alva's Nudisiri Virasat' in the coming years.