Media Release
Dammam, Dec 7: As the dusk settled in and a new dawn prevailed on Friday the December 1 a sense of excitement engulfed over the serene breeze around Delimon Resort leading to a horde of people rushing to witness the most awaited Gala event of the year MASA open to all Talent contest ‘Kala Sambhrama’ along with the 17th annual day celebration of MASA. An atmosphere of pre-carnival prevailed as a buzz of cars waiting to park at any given opportunity for a slot to enjoy the Fest.
MASA a well-known social service organization over the years have been organizing various events in the kingdom of KSA for their members, ventured into a new horizon and successfully held the first of its kind in the kingdom the ‘Kala Sambhrama’ an exclusive display of supreme diversities in the field of Indian art and culture among various teams from different Indian associations/clubs of Indian states in the region.
The much-awaited event was powered by Al Raqwani Company, Dilogue, Universal Inspection Company (UiC) & Intermodal Global Co Ltd.
The event kicked off and the guests were welcomed by the entertainment committee head Ganesh Karkera followed by the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by president Gopal Shetty along with the advisory committee members, Ravi Karkera, Narendra Shetty, Sadashiv Poojary, Naveen Bhandary, Sathish Bajal, and guests from Bahrain along with EXCOM members.
General secretary Puttaraju furnished the annual report for the year 2023, briefing on the various events held during the year. Membership status, achievements sponsorship, noble services, medical, educational and financial aids to the needy back home and some members in KSA. Puttaraju proudly highlighted the generous services rendered by MASA over the years towards the downtrodden. He earnestly thanked all sponsors and committee members for their unselfish contribution towards the noble cause.
President Gopal Shetty welcomed the gathering and thanked the associations and teams for their active participation. He also thanked all the sponsors for their magnanimous contribution, various committees, volunteers and members for their unconditional continued support.
The president Gopal Shetty was elated and proud to announce that the amount towards noble cause had exceeded over Rs two crore. Stressing on the importance of noble cause to humankind he once again thanked the sponsors and members for their unconditional philanthropic gestures and voiced over for the continued support from sponsors and members in future too.
He also mentioned that a total of nearly 80 students from various cultural backgrounds are using MASA platform to showcase their talent and taking up this challenge to contest with senior and professional participants. He emphasized that MASA is proud of student’s participation which is one of the mottos to promote and enrich young talents. He saluted Ravi Karkera, the architect of the contest format, ‘Kala Sambhrama’ and all EXCOM members for their wholehearted support.
Subsequently, academic, special achievement, distinguished service, sports championship and appreciation awards were given to deserving members.
Habitually, it has been a norm of felicitating MASA silver jubilee anniversary couples on the annual day celebration and ironically this year it was president Gopal Shetty who completed 25 years of blissful married life. Along with Gopal another MASA member Sunderdas was also felicitated with bouquets and shawls for his 25th anniversary.
The lively talent contest began by briefing on the contest rules by the chief coordinator of the event, Ravi Karkera followed by a melodious display of instrumental music play by group of young children. The soothing music set the stage for the grand show and the upcoming contest.
Ten teams from different parts of India participated in the contest. Each team had to perform for 30 minutes showcasing their talent in the field of singing (solo), classical dance (solo), group dance cinematic, and group fancy dress along with anchoring.
Overall ten teams participated namely Gul Twisters, Mogaveers Bahrain, T2B Telugu Beat Breakers, IISD Students, Khobar Friends, KAD - Kudla Adventure Dammam, Students Group of IIS Dammam, Team 3D Jubail, Al Khobar Tamil Mandram, and Samarpanas Carnatic Academy.
The stunning, exciting and thrilling performances were witnessed one after another by the packed audience crossing over 600 including teens and adults. It was truly a spectacular show and rightly a carnival of cultural fest for onlookers.
Scrupulous planning, corroborating, delegating assignments are the core functionary for an event of this magnitude to be successful and here it was all bundled into one pocket for praises to flock MASA management. The event was showcased live on YouTube for millions to watch. The judges truly had difficulty in selecting the best.
During the intervals between each contest, mementos were presented to platinum, silver and co-sponsors for their generous contributions. Judges were introduced and presented with mementos. President Gopal Shetty and chief coordinator, Ravi Karkera thanked all the sponsors and Judges for their valuable contribution and time.
Lead anchor from Bahrain, Kamalaksha Amin smartly carried out the contest proceedings as master of ceremony with his magical voice and articulated words.
Judges of the events: Gayathri Hareesh, a classical dancer and dance teacher from Kerala, Deepak Rao Pejawara, popular Yakshagana Artiste from Bahrain (Karnataka), Neelam Sharma, a dancer and teacher from Himachal Pradesh, Deepak Paralikar, Sangeet Visharad from Maharashtra and Abhishek Sathyan cultural expert, toastmaster from Kerala
Judging Coordinators: Ravi Karkera, Narendra Shetty, Naveen Bhandary
Timer: Balakrishna Shetty, Tally Counters: Ameer Hussain, Salim Puttur
Platinum sponsors: Al Raqwani Co, Dilogue, Universal Inspection Co (UiC), Intermodal Global Co. Ltd.
Silver sponsors: Artland Transport Co and Dr Ashwin Shetty
Co-sponsors: Najib Al Hajri Transportation & Logistics, Garnish Restaurant Dammam, SASP Jubail, Eastern Arabia, FEOL, CLC Pest & Termite Control, Syndicate Consultants, FACE, Arja Al-Khaleej Trading Est., DCA Mohammed Siraj & Omarabba, Khobar Friends, Santhosh Shetty Dubai, Ramesh Mendon, Ravi Karkera, Gopal Shetty, Praveen Peter Aranha, Dr. Ragini Bekur, Ameer Hussain, Ganesh Karkera, Naveen Bhandary, Vishwanath Suvarna, Puttaraju H, Sudarshan Sanil, Balachandra Chandragiri, Roshan Kotian, Keshav Arikady, Niranjan Karkera, Usman Hosangady, Bhaskar Acharya, Balakrishna Shetty, Harish Kumar Poojary, Alex Philip.
Guest from Bahrain, Kamalaksha Amin, a social worker was honoured and felicitated by MASA EXCOM team in recognition of his vital service to Karnataka communities residing in Bahrain in the field of art, culture and media, as lead anchor, news writer in print media and TV channels.
Finally, it was time to declare the most prestigious award, 'MASA Man of the Year' award. Every year this award is given for the dedication, commitment, endurance and tireless service to MASA. It was a proud and emotional moment for none other than Ameer Hussain as he humbly accepted the prestigious Man of the Year award.
While addressing the gathering, he thanked MASA EXCOM for considering him for this honour and assured to continue his dedication and commitment towards service to humanity.
Ameer was honored with a memento, shawl, Fruits and bouquet by the president, EXCOM and advisory committee members. A standing ovation was given by the jam-packed crowd for the well-deserved award.
As many as 12 raffle prizes were drawn and three door prizes presented to lucky winners. To culminate a festive feeling guests and members earned attractive prizes through the raffle draw. All children were invited on the stage and appreciated for their efforts recognized by presenting gifts.
Thanks to the platinum sponsor Abdul Majeed Badrudheen, CEO/managing director of UiC for his humble gesture for presenting gifts to all the participating teams and also to MASA EXCOM and advisory members.
Vote of thanks was presented by vice president, Praveen Peter Aranha before the declaration of the contest results.
Teams and packed audience were eagerly and patiently waiting for the exciting moment to hear the final results of the contest. The boisterous crowd aggravated the spirits of participants and audience bringing the crowd on their feet. The announcement of individual and group winners, one by one by the chief coordinator of the event Ravi Karkera excited the crowds and they welcomed the judgement with thundering noise, jumping all over which was worth watching.
As the curtains were drawn, the splendid show came to an end with the singing of the national anthem.