Report: Shodhan Prasad

Pics: Ashok Belman & Ganesh Rai

Dubai, Jul 28: The logo of the ‘Vishwa Tulu Sammelana 2018’ to be held on November 23 and 24, 2018 at Dubai was unveiled by Sudhir Kumar Shetty of UAE Exchange at a special meeting held at Marco Polo Hotel in Deira, Dubai on Friday, July 28.

The special meeting arranged by the core committee members started with prayer and introduction of the committee. Shodhan Prasad conducted the meeting while Sarvotham Shetty briefed on the programme and the development so far. Core Committee members comprise of Dev Kumar Kambli, Satish Poojary, Yogesh Prabhu, Ajmal Sayyed, M E Muloor, Alwyn Pinto, Afroz Assadi, Noel Almeida, Jyothika Shetty, Smitha Bhat, Suvarna Satish and Shashi Shetty.

‘Vishwa Tulu Aisiri’ Special Souvenir

A special souvenir is being planned, to be released at the Sammelana. The name of the souvenir is ‘Vishwa Tulu Aisiri’ suggested by Ganesh Rai and was finalised after receiving over 166 title suggestions.

Ganesh Rai who is the editor cum designer of this souvenir explained in detail the meaning of the title and the contents which will be featured in the souvenir. The logo which was unveiled was also designed by Ganesh Rai, who explained the concept and design.

Presentation of Sammelana

Shodhan Prasad prepared and presented an informative power point presentation depicting the whole scheduled programme which gave the members and the audience an insight of the proposed ‘Vishwa Tulu Sammelana 2018’.

The day long programme is scheduled to be held on 23 and 24 November at Ice Rink, Al Nasr Liesureland, Dubai and more than 4,000 Tuluvas are expected to witness this grand mega event, which will be the first such event to be held internationally. In the past, Vishwa Tulu Sammelanas were held in various Indian venues.

Shree Kshetra Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade will inaugurate the programme, while Dr B R Shetty, patron of Tuluvas in Dubai will preside over. The whole event will be arranged through an Event Management Company which is licensed to do so and the licensing procedure is on with the formalities.

The target audience will comprise of ‘Sarva Dharma’ (all caste, creed and religion) hailing from Tulu Nadu and the main focus is on the Tuluva’s folk, art, literature, language and art of living. There will be Tuluva Exhibition to exhibit the various artefacts, antiques and foods of ancient Tuluvas for people to know.

Overseas Tulu Association presidents and members will also be arriving to witness this mega event. They are mainly from Mumbai, Delhi, Baroda, Nasik, Sangli, Pune, Chennai, Hubballi, Dharwad, Belagavi and other parts of India. There will also be guests arriving from all over the Gulf, USA., Australia, UK who are all part of the Tulu organisation in their respective countries.

The entire event will be jointly presented by Gulf Tuluvas, Akhila Bharatha Tulu Okkoota, Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy and Overseas Tuluvas. Along with Dr D Veerendra Heggade, the Bishop of Mangaluru Catholic community, religious heads of Muslim community and other well-known preachers, community leaders, ministers, actors, actresses, dramatists, writers, poets, singers, stand-up comedians, folk dancers, Yakshagana artistes and many well-known performers and presenters from Tulu Nadu will be arriving to grace the occasion.

Tulu Janapada Nrithya competition and Tulu Janapada singing competition will be held for Tulu groups within Gulf countries comprising of Oman, Muscat, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE and any number of entries are permitted provided the theme should be in pure Tulu language.

Tuluvas pride will be the main theme and the presentations will include Tala Maddale, Yakshagana Natya Vaibhava, Tulu Rasamanjari, Tulu Sahitya Ghosti (kode, ini, yelle), Daivaradhane, Bhootaradane, Tulu Maadhyama Ghosti, Tulu Hasya Sanje, Tulu Kavana Vachana, Tulu Chutuku Ghosti, Tulu Ranga Bhoomi and Chalana Chitra Ghosti and Anivasi (Overseas) Tuluvara Ghosti. Importantly all these presentations will be a quick and smart and strictly humorous to keep the audience entertaining throughout. Well-known scholars, literatures, writers, poets and artistes will be the main presenters.

Shodhan Prasad requested every member to take care and conduct the programme with due respect to all communities without harming their religious sentiments and honouring the law of the land in UAE in all respects.

There was a question and answer session after the presentation and many suggestions were inspected and implemented wherever necessary.

Satish Poojary rendered the vote of thanks and requested every member to cooperate in the upcoming mega event.