Sharjah: Grace Pinto to attend Karnataka Sangha 11th anniversary event

Media Release

Sharjah, May 26: Karnataka Sangha, Sharjah, a progressive association dedicated to the cause of humanity for over a decade, is all geared up for its 11th anniversary celebrations.

The celebrations will be held on Friday the May 31 from 10 am to 5 pm at the Grand Ball Room of Ewan Hotel, opposite the Loulouva Beach Resort Port Khalid Road, Sharjah.

Grace Pinto, managing director of the world famous Ryan International Group of Institutes, managing several hundreds of Educational Institutions spread all over the world, will be the chief guest.

Grace Pinto, recipient of hundreds of prestigious national and international awards for her record-breaking achievements in different aspects of the educational field and her accomplishments have been recognized by the Limca Book of Records. The redoubtable lady originally hailing from the coastal region of South Kanara, is at the helm of running successfully about 120 educational institutions in about 15 Indian states and several countries abroad.



Mayura Award 2013 for Sudhir Kumar Shetty

This year’s prestigious ‘Mayura Prashasthi’ 2013 will be conferred on Sudhir Kumar Shetty for his outstanding contributions in the field of financial services.

Sudhir Kumar Shetty has been rendering yeomen service to the vast majority of the expat communities at large, as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the household name in the UAE, Gulf and the Middle East for money exchange, international remittances and other financial transactions – The UAE Exchange. Having a phenomenal reach of over 170,000 centers around the world, across 150 countries, collaborations with over 150 world-renowned banking and financial institutions with over 700 offices world-wide, employing over 9000 dedicated personnel from 40 different nationalities, catering to over 6 million satisfied customers with a smiling face and quality service are proofs of Shetty’s eloquent leadership qualities.

About Karnataka Sangha, Sharjah

Karnataka Sangha, Sharjah, established in 2003 under the auspices of Sharjah Indian Association, representing the vast majority of the Kannada-speaking denizens of India, has been rendering dispassionate and self-less service devoid of any political or religious lineages, to promote the rich Kannada Art, Culture and language for the benefit of the future generations. It’s a platform to show-case the hidden talents of the ‘generation-next’ who have been missing an opportunity to uphold the rich traditions of Art, Culture and linguistic heritage of our motherland in this part of the world. Organizing various community oriented activities like picnics, sports, arts competiton for children, talent contest for youth, UAE Level Tournaments for Ladies’ Throw ball, Volley ball for Men, competitions to vie for the coveted ‘Mayura Cup’, ‘Rasa-Manjari’ a musical program of Kannada Songs, Blood Donation Camps, Health Forum etc. have been the half marks of our association to keep the Kannada Folk engaged in all these socio-cultural activities to keep their love for their motherland flowing while also contributing immensely by way of their dedicated service to their adopted country, the UAE.

Previous Awardees

It was in 2003 that under the leadership of our remarkable Founder President the late Umesh Nanthoor – the prestigious Mayura Prashasthi was instituted to recognize the contributions and accomplishments in various fields by the Kannadigas hailing from our motherland into their adopted land of Gulf – the Karma Bhoomi. The inaugural award was bestowed on the Padma Awardee, Dr B R Shetty for his phenomenal contributions in the field of health care, trade, financial services and a whole host of commercial, industrial, educational, social, cultural and sporting activities not only in the middle east, but also in India and elsewhere.

The 2004-Awardee was Mark Denise D’Souza for his magnificent contributions in the field of industry and for Art & cultural activities Shyam Sunder Rao; in 2005 the recipients were Zafrullah Khan for his magnanimous contributions in the field of Hotel Industry, Ashok Kumar Shetty for social service and Gerome Saldanha in the field of Printing and Publications. In 2006, the Award recognized the services in the commercial field by Shekhar Shetty and in the literary field Irshad Moodabidri. For his rich contributions for Social Services the awardee in 2007 was Dr B K Yusuf while in 2008 it was the deserving case of BG Mohandas for his fantastic contribution in the Kannada Media through his popular and pioneer website ‘Gulf Kannadiga’.

In 2009 the credit went to B K Ganesh Rai for his all-round contributions in the fields of Art, Literature & cultural heritage and the joint recipient in the same year for his contributions in the field of literature, dramatics to Prakash Rao Payyar. It was the turn of Industry once again in 2010 and this time it went to James Mendonca. Shodhan Prasad was honoured with this prestigious award in the year 2011 for his voluminous work in the field of art, culture, social and humanitarian work. And the last year 2012 saw the recognition of another self-less and unceasing champion of social service in Walter D’Souza Nandalike through his highly successful and popular media leader ‘Daijiworld.com’ along with another philanthropic contributor, Harish Sherigar of Acme Building Materials in the field of Commerce and Industry and M A Muloor for social service.

Special cultural programme by members of Nataraja Dance School, Bangalore

It’s our privilege to be presenting a special dance drama cultural program by the artists of the Nataraja Dance Academy, Bangalore. The day-long programme consisting of a variety entertainment programme presented by the different cultural forums/associations of the region that will include, folk dance, comedy, mimicry, short-skits and melodrama that’s sure to take your breath away with their finesse and articulate presentations.

President Satish Poojary and the managing committee members of Karnataka Sangha, Sharjah are extremely pleased to extend a hearty and warm welcome to all the Kannadigas of the region