Media Release

Muscat, Apr 21 : Almost 600 Billawas along with their families were all assembled at the Grand Hall, Al Falaj Hotel, Muscat, to celebrate their 4th Annual Family Get-together, recently.

The hall donned a festive look with the entrance grandly decorated by MrGuruprasad and team with banana stems, coconut bunches buntings and flowers specially flown in from Mangalore.

The day started off with”Lighting of the Lamp’’ by the President and Managing committee members.Inaugurating the function, the President, Mr Ashok Suvarna welcomed all members and their families, while wishing them an enjoyable day.

Winners of the Children Talent show held earlier along with the Judges were presented with Certificates of Merit and Mementos respectively. Shivagiri XI Cricket team who were the Winners andBillawa Challengers Cricket team who were the runners-up, of the cricket tournament held during the previous year along with their sponsors were also awarded with medals andtrophies by Mr Ashok Suvarna. Similarly, trophies were presented to the Man of the match MrGiteshSanil& Man of the Series MrSukumarAnchan.
Mr SK Poojary, Vice President and MrUmeshBantwal, Vice President, in their key-note address commended Oman Billawas on the various activities and initiatives taken up in Oman as well as in India, while requesting all the members for better participation. MrKushalBangera, General Secretary, then presented the Annual report of activities undertaken during the previous year.

MrGangadharPoojary, detailed the various sports activities conducted during the past year and also informed them about proposed forthcoming activities. MrSuhan appraised the members present on the good work done in helping needy children in Mangalore in furthering their education, by providing scholarships to 40 students during the year 2014-15.MrSudhir Kumar from Sohar, in his address appreciated the initiatives of Oman Billawas, while assuring of continued support from their end.

Dr CK Anchan, Vice President took this opportunity to welcome the President, Vice President and all the Committee members on stage, while highlighting the activities in which each one of them were involved. He also briefed the august gathering on various achievements of Oman Billawas in philanthropic activities like providing educational scholarships to children in Mangalore, providing medical assistance to various members of the community in Oman as well as in India, etc. He called upon them to come forward in contributing their might to enable Oman Billawas to continue supporting such noble causes.

The Cultural activities commenced with a beautiful welcome dance by MsGowriPoojary. The tiny tots from Sohar then presented a nice filmy dance which was followed by a rock-n-roll number by the Muscat kids, both of which had the audience captivated. The ladies from Muscat came up with a group dance to the melodious hindi film number ‘Manwa’, which was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience. The Sohar team then presented a ‘Bollywood couple dance’ which was enjoyed by all. ‘Nagada’ was the next filmy dance number performed by the Muscat ladies, which was also thoroughly enjoyed by the audience. The next performance had the audience up in cheers watching the ‘Hip-hop dance’ by the SoharBillawas. ‘Chill Yaar’, the next dance number – a hindi filmy fusion dance performance by the teenagers from Muscat had the crowd mesmerized.

‘Dark light act’, a unique play presented under UV light effects, was an awesome act by the Oman Billawasteam, which had the audience asking for more. The next performance, ‘Fusion dance’ by Sohar group was a colourful presentation liked by one and all.
The short Yakshagana ballet play, depicting certain interesting snippets from mythology in dance form was a wonderful performance coupled with authentic costumes of all the artistes, which was a treat to watch and enjoy.

“PremanathanaGammathu” was another dance ballet, presented by the Sohar team, with all the artistes dressed up in a variety of colourful attire putting up a great performance.
The”grand finale” to the day’s cultural activities was “Let’s be one”, an act involving all the artistes –kids, ladies and gentlemen- who had been involved in the day’s activities. Each of the performances was a treat to watch and was thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated by the entire audience.

All the various dances and entertainment programmes were choreographedby M/s ShaliniBaburaj, GokulPoojary, SheetalSudesh, Akshatha Amin, Neel Anchan, HitenPoojary, ShreyaBangera and KarthikKunder.The entire programme was conducted beautifully by the Master of Ceremonies - MrsSuchethnaAnchan and MrUmeshJeppu, with able support and coordination from M/s PremaUmesh, NeelkamalAnchan, SuviBangara, KavithaSanil, ManujaSuhan and AnithaUppoor,
Dr CK Anchan, Vice President was privileged with delivering the Vote of Thanks.
The sumptuous lunch buffet whichfollowed brought to an end an extremely enjoyable and memorable day for all the Oman Billawas and their family members.