Media Release 

Mangaluru, Oct 30: “Deepavali, the festival of lights should dispel the darkness within us. Both good and evil are within us, we have to make the choice. We need to be aware of our strengths and weaknesses” said Harikrishna Bantwal, former-chairman of KEONICS.

He was addressing the gathering as the chief guest on the occasion of Deepavali celebration at Expert PU college, Valachil-Mangaluru. He stressed that patriotism should be imbibed with education. He extolled the Expert institutions for imparting value based education.

The whole campus was beautifully illuminated with colourful hanging lanterns (goodu deepas) and flickering diyas (earthen lamps) for the unique expert-Deepavali which created an atmosphere filled divinity. The students and the teachers donned their ethnic attire which added a festive spirit to the celebrations. The festivity began with Lakshmi pooja and traditional rituals.

Prof Narendra L Nayak, chairman, Expert Group of Institutions, Mangaluru accorded a floral welcome to the chief guest and extended Deepavali greetings to the gathering. He also felicitated Harikrishna Bantwal with a memento.

Scintillating Dandiya dance performance by students and teachers mesmerized the audience. The Prizes of dandiya competition, Goodu Deepa making and various other competitions were distributed by Dr. Ushaprabha N Nayak, Vice Chairperson, Expert Group of Institutions.

The event concluded with releasing of numerous sky lanterns which set the night sky ablaze. At the end there was a delectable festive dinner.

Architect Deepika A. Nayak; Dr. N.K. Vijayan Karippal, principal; Subramanya Udupa, vice principal (Academics); Raghavendra Shenoy, vice principal (administration) and members of the staff were present on the occasion.

Anitha P Shetty, programme director proposed vote of thanks. The students Suravi Sudheer and Abhinandan Biju of I PUC accorded a warm welcome to the gathering and compeered the programme.