Media Release
Jeddah May 25: The Indian expatriates’ community from the southern state of Karnataka celebrated the 'Annual Karnataka Day' on May 15 at the Indian consulate premises in Jeddah. This program was organised by the Karnataka Non Resident Indian (KNRI) Forum, Jeddah.
The consul for Press and Information, Dr Irshad Ahmed graced the event as chief guest. Vishwanath Hegde, of Intermodal Services SA and Shoaib Saeed of RedTag were the guests of honour. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Irshad Ahmed complemented the KNRI forum for all the activities they have undertaken for the poor and the needy and for organising a mammoth crowd for the event. The president of the forum, Roshan Rodrigues spoke about dedication of the forum members towards a social cause despite their busy schedule. Syed Nasir Khursheed, general secretary of the forum delivered a detailed presentation of the activities of the forum right since its inception. Sabu Chandran, the event manager officially welcomed the guests and audience, Yashwanth Amin delivered the vote of thanks, while the program started with recitation of holy Quran by Shaikh Saoud.
The entertainment session began with the traditional Kannada hit song sung by Kaleem and followed by national patriotic group song by Saif, Nawaz, Kaleem, Madhuri Manjappa, Anitha Jangal, Vijayalakshmi, Shalmali Sudhir, Jaya S and Kavitha Naik.
Couple of great dances performed by children of different age groups were choreographed by renowned dance instructor Pushpa Suresh, one of which showcased the antiquity, culture and the heritage of Karnataka and the other was a colourful and foot tapping dance from the state of Rajasthan.
Sudha Raju choreographed a couple of dances, one of which was based on a medley of Hindi film music and the other was patriotic number performed by children. There were several more dances performed on the choreography of Shinto Anthony tune on popular Bollywood songs. Movin Rego choreographed unique mute dances which were appraised by the packed audience.
Rehna Saleem, Saif, Kaleem and Mohsin Khan treated the audience to some melodious and foot tapping hindi and kannada songs from old and new movies which were a big hit among both the young and the old in the audience. President Roshan Rodrigues also sung a song from his music album, Alshellon, which was penned and composed by him.
Sahana Manjappa and Niaz Ahmed compered the program as anchors and conducted the popular Karnataka quiz with attractive prizes for the winners. A 'scratch a recharge card' contest was held where the prize was recharge cards from the 3 mobile phone operators, STC, Mobily and Zain. Games for children with attractive prizes were conducted by Krish Jangal, Peter Mascarenhas. A raffle draw was held at the end of the event with attractive prizes sponsored by EMax, bumper prize of LCD was received by Masood Soher Wardy hailing from Gulbarga.
Organising committee thanked Golden sponsors RedTag and Intermodal Services SA and all other co-sponsors Emax, Joyalukkas, RF Developers, India Gate Restaurant, Premier Food corporation, AB Industrial Supply, Jamiyyatul Falah Jeddah, Master Trading & Contracting and Imas.
Regional manager of the RedTag Shoeb Saeed expressed happiness with activities and cultural program delivered by KNRI Forum. He said Karnataka residence has achieved a good name in the kingdom by their discipline and are satisfied to be sponsors of this event. Vishwanath Hegde of Intermodal Services SA appreciated the hard work of all executive committee members for excellent coordination on organizing the event.
The record turnout of the audience was treated to an action packed evening filled with music, dance, folklore, games, quiz and dinner. The program concluded with the national anthem.