Media Release

Muscat, Oct 25: The Oman Billawas will be hosting their second grand Annual Day celebrations on Friday, November 4 at the Grand Hall, Al Falaj Hotel. The event will be managed by NPA Events, Oman’s foremost event management company.

Billawa is a community originally hailing from Mangalore in Karnataka, on India’s west coast. The Oman Billawas, an offshoot of this community here in Muscat, are a very close-knit group who are currently domiciled in the Sultanate of Oman, and gainfully employed at different organizations across various levels.

The Oman Billawas bond together as one during this day-long festivities, where a wide selection of cultural and entertainment fares will be served and families mingle joyously with each other to share the fun and exuberance. Billawa families and friends from across the Muscat, Barka, Sohar, Nizwa, and similar settlements will come together to be a part of this grand annual day celebrations. It is a platform to share the happiness, joy, achievements and the spirit of togetherness with near and dear ones from the great land of ‘Tulunadu’, Mangalore, creating a home away from home and cultivating a sense of bonding and togetherness.

The annual day is being organized by the founder members, S K Poojari, Ashok Suvarna, Dr Anchan C.K and Umesh Bantwal, along with the working committee head Anand Sanil, who are each famous and renowned in their own respective fields and have been playing a vital role towards the development of the Billawa and the Tulu community here in the Sultanate

 “We have invited most of the stalwarts of Billawas from India as well as from Middle East, Very happy to know that few of them have taken out time from their busy schedule and confirmed their participation - like and Suresh Poojary, and Navinchandra D Suvarna, Dr Ganesh Amin Shankamar,  Bannanje Babu Amin, Prof. Thukaram Poojary, Prof. Ashalatha Suvarna, Shree Chennakeshava Suvarna of Shree Guru Narayana Trust, and  Chandrashekar Nanil from India. Also from all over Middle East, Mohan Attavar, Daya Kirodian, Jitendra Suvarna, Suchit Anchan, Uday Kumar Kateel, Praveen Kumar Attavar from Dubai and Abudhabi, From Qatar Diwakar Poojary and from Bahrain Raj Kumar and Krishna Anchan have confirmed their participation. This is a great encouragement for us in Oman. Moreover, it is heartening to see locally many more billawas have come forward to participate in this years Annual Day Celebration" “The rehearsal is in full swing at various places including in Sohar. Sudhir Kumar, Umesh Poojary and Narayan taken initiative in Sohar and expecting three wonderful items from them” says Ashok Suvarna.

A full day event has been planned with various entertainment and cultural events to be performed by the local members. Suchethna Anchan and Neel Anchan have brought the children together to perform a traditional dance, in addition to a peppy Bollywood number. The two ladies are also coordinating a ladies dance based on popular Hindi film songs. Gangadhar Poojary will be coordinating a Yakshagana in true Karnataka tradition. Suvi Bangara is the choreographer for a ladies fashion show, showcasing the costumes of the various brides from the different states of India. Prema Umesh is directing a comedy one-act play “Kalpuna Malla ath, Kalpauna Malla”, to keep the audience in splits.

The team from Sohar has also planned some interesting entertainment items. Sudheer Kumar and Narayan Kotian, will put up a skit called ‘Kanakadasa’. Anitha Ravikanth is coordinating a ladies Kannada dance and Harish Suvarna is organizing a gent’s folkdance. Suchetna Anchan and Umesh Jeppu will compère the show in their own inimitable style. There will be a comic relief in between by Mahesh Salian.

S K Poojary the founding member says, “It is quite an overwhelming response coming from all over the Sultanate and we are happy that most of the members are coming forward taking much interest in this year’s annual day celebrations.”

This will be the Oman Billawas 2nd Annual Day Celebrations and the members have jointly planned to invite their community’s stalwarts from the other gulf states, and a few even from India. “The Stalwarts from India and all over Gulf have accepted our invitation and they will be here for the function. We will also have some great orators those who will keep our audience glued to their chairs with their interesting speech” Umesh Buntwal said.

“The Oman Billawas focuses not only on bringing the community in Oman together but also aims to bring the community as a whole, together for a purpose, to protect, preserve and promote Tulunadu’s ethnic and socio-cultural heritage, to promote and celebrate festivals and to provide personal assistance to the needy and deserving”, Dr Anchan C K commented.

The event is managed and organised by NPA Events LLC and those Billawas who would like to join the annual day celebration can contact any of the working committee members.