UAE: Dwani's Kannada Chutuku Sammelana Turns Out A Grand Event
News & Pics: Shodhan Prasad
Daijiworld Media Network - UAE

UAE, May 4: The committee members of Dwani Pratishtana here seemed to be fully prepared for the ‘First ever Kannada Chutuku Sammelana’ which was part of their silver jubilee celebration, held at Philadelpia School, Ghusais witnessed by large number Kannadigas from all over UAE.

The programme started at around 5.00 pm with the guests being welcomed by live drums and trumphets (Chende – Khombu vaadhana) in the presence of Yakshagana samavesha dressed alongside the tableau on to the main stage. The drum beats went on for some more time displaying the various rhythmic beats of which the sound waves sent across UAE the message of the opening of the programme.

Ananth Rao, the master of ceremony opened up the programme in his unique style depicting the pure Kannada dialect and comforting the guests and invitees on to the seats.
S Madhusudan welcomed the guests followed by prayer song by Ashwini Sathish. Soon Ananth invited all the guests on to the stage for the proceedings with lighting of the lamp and inauguration of the function with the song, “Hachevu Kannadadha Deepa” playing on the background in sync with the lighting of lamp.

The stage was decorated beautifully with a large number of guests to include president of the Chutuku Sammelana, senior poet Dundiraj, inaugurator Srinivas Sreerangam, chief guest, energy minister from Kasrnataka, India Shobha Karandlaje, chief of NRI Forum and MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik, actress Girija Lokesh, litterateur Dr Na Damodar Shetty, Dr Jayaprakash Mavinakuli, actress Tejasvini Prakash, Karnataka Sangha Abu Dhabi president, Sarvotham Shetty, managing director of Arab Udupi Group of Restaurants, Shekar Shetty, MD of Chilly Willy Trading, Satish Venkatramana, MD of Fortune Grand, Ravish Gowda, MD of Fortune Hotel Al Rigga, Pravin Shetty, MD OF Reliable Fabricator James Mendonza and president of Dwani Pratishtana, Prakash Rao Payyar.

Sarala and team rendered a ‘naada geethe’ . President Prakash Rao Payyar, gave a welcome speech while the guests were introduced with flower bouquet individually by the members of Dwani Pratishtana.

The inaugural speech was rendered by Sreenivas Sreerangam who briefed the audience on the ‘chutuku’ seminar.  Next was a speech by Shobha Karandlaje whose encouraging speech was well appreciated by the audience. She said, "I have not come to teach you instead to learn from you and pass on your good work to my colleagues in Karnataka who should follow you." Later Karnik spoke few words in Kannada blended with English phrases which was short and sweet.

Some of the eminent Kannadiga personalities of UAE who excelled in various fields were identified and felicitated with silver jubilee honours along with their wives with shawl, flower, fruits and appreciation letter. Former president of Karnataka Sangha Dubai,  B G Mohandas of Gulf Kannadiga.com for his contribution in the field of Journalism, Aryabata awardee Satish Venkataramana of Chilly Willy Trading in the field of Business, Suma Narayan in the field of Music, Kannada Koota’s Eeranna Moolimani for his contribution to the field of Literature, Nritya Vidushi Namitha Ananth for her contribution in the field of Dance, Stalwart of Billawas Dubai & NE, Satish Poojary of Shiv Saagar Restaurant for his contribution in Organizational Excellence and Kishore Gatti for his contribution towards ‘Yakshagana’ in this part of the world were among the honoured.

Soon guests Srinivas Sreerangam and Shobha Karandlaje were honoured with shawl, memento, Mysore head gear and gift hampers of Chilly Willy in memory of Dwani’s silver jubilee celebration.

A vibrant dance called ‘Kamsale Nritya’ shook the audience, with great performance by men’s team ably choreographed by Rajesh Kuthar. Followed was few Kannada folk songs melodiously sung by Sangeeta and troupe. There were few Bharatanatyam group dance performed beautifully by little children which was applauded very well by the audience.
The programme then continued with presentation of various awards to the identified personalities in different fields.

Ananth briefed the audience on those previous winners under the category of ‘Sriranga Prashasti’ this time bestowed to Dr Na Damodar Shetty for the year 2010. He was bestowed given away the award, appreciation letter, shawl, Mysore head gear, flower and fruits. Next was an award for the best drama writer during 2009 World Kannada Drama Festival bestowed to Dr Jayaprakash Mavinakuli. He was honoured with award, appreciation letter, shawl, Mysore head gear, flower and fruits. Both the awardees spoke few words on their feelings upon receiving the awards.

All the other guests were called upon on the stage and honoured with shawl, memento, and gift hampers from Sapil and Chilly Willy.

The main programme “Chutuku Sahitya Sammelana” was then opened up with inviting all the poets on to the stage starting with poet Dundiraj whom the audiences were waiting to hear for long. The local poets invited are Gopinath Rao, Irshaad Moodbidri, Eeranna Moolimani, Prakash Rao Payyar, Satish Kulal, Avinash Bhat, Ganesh Rai, Mallikarjuna Gowda and Mangala Shetty.  Each one of them rendered their verses with flowing fluency blended with strong mixture of comical verses enjoyed overwhelmingly by the true audience to the every bit. Each and every participant were honoured with mementos and gift hampers immediately upon their completion. Dundiraj mesmerized the audience with his beautiful humorous narration enjoyed thoroughly by the whole lot of audience. On behalf of all UAE Kannadigas, Dundiraj was then felicitated by the chief guest and guest of honour with flower, fruits, memento and shawl.

Finally the sponsors of the event were called upon on the stage and honoured. The sponsors were Middleast Data Systems, UAE Exchange, Arab Udupi Group of Restaurant, Reliable Fabricators, Chilly Willy Trading, Maxell International and Shiv Saagar Restaurant, Sapil. The Well Wishers were Canara Bank, Shridhar Ladhe, Suresh Hegde, Nagaraj Shetty, Ramachandra Hegde, Sarvotham Shetty, Ramesh Madhyastha, Harish Sherigar, Shodhan Prasad and Anand Bailoor.

Madhusudan concluded the programme with the vote of thanks while the cultural programme was co-ordinated by Ram Prasad and Sarala. Back stage support was ably provided by Sampath Shetty, Latha Hegde, Santosh Poojary, Gururaj Puttur, Sony Gururaj, Padmaraj Yekkar, Ganesh Kulal, Shridhar Ladhe, Murugesh Gajare, Sarala, Kusuma Rao and Jayashree Madhu.

Tejasvini Prakash presented a beautiful dance item from a cine song which enthralled the crowd who were longing to hear her.

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