Report: Shodhan Prasad 

Ajman, Nov 18: Kundapura Devadiga Mitra (KaDaM) celebrated ninth anniversary on Friday, November 15 at Habitat School Auditorium, Ajman. The day-long programme started at 11 am with traditional lighting of the lamp by female members of KaDaM who inaugurated the event. 

MC Nithyanand Beskoor welcomed the audience and chief guests and invited president KaDaM, Dinesh Chandrashekar Devadiga Nagoor to do the honours.   

Chief Guests including Mahaligna Devadiga Uppunda, AGM of Corporation Bank, Bagalkote, Nagaraj D Padukone, businessman and social worker of L G Foundation, Padukone, Rajyotsava awardee Lion B G Mohandas, politician Raju Devadiga, Veteran Seena Devadiga, H S Devadiga, President of Devadiga Sangha Dinesh Devadiga, Sitar Ratna Devadas Pai, Shodhan Prasad, Suresh Devadiga, Nithyanand Beskoor and other dignitaries were invited on to the stage and welcomed with flower bouquet.

Nithyanand later introduced the fellow MCs of the day, Santosh, Shridhar, Santosh Kolnadu, Asha and Shashirekha, who especially carried on the entertainment part of the show in a nice manner. 

Yuvaraj Devadiga rendered the prayer song ‘Ganesha Sthuti’ followed by welcome dance by Dhanya Dinesh Devadiga and Shibani. Pramod Kumar presented a beautiful song to start the entertainment section. 

The next programme was a Hindi filmy dance by Advik, Ayush, Pratham, Rusham, Sriansh and Shrishanth which was mesmerizing. Later Suresh Devadiga sang a beautiful folk number of Legend Dr C Ashwath ‘Mareyabeda’ which was well received by the audience. 

Dhanya Dinesh Devadiga later presented an awesome semi classical dance ‘Omkara’ from Aaptharakshaka. 

Sanskriti Dance Group presented a filmy dance which was well performed by Nivedya, Sharanya, Laxmi, Elsa, nandana, sanjana, Neeralakshmi, Nethra, Sera, Shreeya and Taniskha. 

Vasudeva Devadiga, Rathnakar Devadiga and Manjunath Devadiga presented a meaningful well-performed comedy skit in Kannada. 

Visiting artiste Sitar Ratna Devadas Pai, who was a guest during the event, was called to present a solo Sitar performance which got good response from the audience. 

Beautiful Ladies of KaDaM, Shashirekha, Kiran Beskoor, Hema, Reshma Pramod and Asha presented a well-choreographed Punjabi Group Dance which received a grand round of applause from the audience. 

Dhanya, Shreesha and U Shreeya later presented a Hindi Filmy dance number followed by Golden Star Music who presented another dance number comprising of Padmaja Padnekar, Ridhi Padnekar, Krishnapriya, Mahalakshmi, Jithin P, Samyak and Samarth well-choreographed and applauded. 

Sudhakar Devadiga read out the annual report of KaDaM from the inception to the ninth anniversary programme highlighting KaDaM’s active involvement in community social wellbeing, including helping in education and medical emergencies of needy back in India and Ekanatheshwara Temple. 

All the Sponsors and Well-wishers were invited on to the stage and honoured with flowers, shawl and mementos. 

Devadiga Sadaka Prashasti award 

Nagaraj D Padukone, Businessman and Social Worker of L G Foundation, Padukone was honoured with ‘Devadiga Sadaka Prashasti’ award during the occasion. 

Guest of Honour 

Lion B G Mohandas who is the founder of Gulf Kannadiga.com and also the honorary advisor of KaDaM was honoured during the programme for having received the Karnataka State Rajyotsava Award 2019 recently. 

‘Kusa Lava Kalaga’ Yakshagana Ballet 

The special attraction of the day was Yakshagana Ballet ‘Kusha Lava Kalaga’, which was beautifully presented by Shree Kshethtra Maranakatte Shree Brahmalingeshwara Yakshagana Mandali for the first time in UAE. This started after the lunch and went on till late evening. 

The artistes comprised of Ravi Devadiga Soralu as Bhagavathar, Chethan Acharya in Chende, Mahabaleshwara Gowda in Maddale with participants Irabailu Ananda Shetty as Rama, Sheena Devadiga Nagoor as Shatrughna, Kolali Krishna Shetty as Kusha, Vaataru Raveendra Shetty as Lava and Shekar Shetty Yelaberu in a comic role. Sheena Devadiga Nagoor conducted this ballet in a traditional way which was very well applauded by all the audience. 

Family Members of KaDaM and volunteers actively took part in the celebration in making the event a grand success. 

Luck Draw, Prize Distribution, honoring the participants and some other guests were done systematically after that. 

The programme was concluded with vote of thanks by Nithyanand Beskoor.