Brilliant Bunts Qatar Annual Day dazzles Doha
Daijiworld Media Network - Doha
Doha, Apr 7: Bunts Qatar celebrated their first annual day on Friday April 5 at the Al Jazeera Academy in Doha, Qatar with a gala ceremony. The celebration which began at 5 pm had a delightful tinge of culture and tradition. It is an annual event for the Bunts of Qatar to come together as one family and this year being the first gathering, the celebration was very grand and festive. It was a perfect blend of dazzling cultural and festive extravaganza.
The evening began with a welcome note by the young and energetic host of the evening Akshera Rai. She introduced the orchestra singers Jagraj Rai and Soumya Bhat who were specially flown in from Mangalore for the event. Soumya started off with a prayer song, followed by an orchestra number from Jagraj.
Padma Bhushan Dr B M Hegde, the chief guest of the evening along with the guests of honour Sarvotham Shetty, president UAE Bunts, K D Shetty, chairman, Bhavani Shipping Lines along with the presidents of Karnataka Associations in Qatar were escorted by the Bunts Qatar president and philanthropist Ravi Shetty, vice-president Prakash Chandra Ajila, general secretary Navneeth Shetty, treasurer Dhananjay Shetty, sports secretary Uday Shetty, cultural secretary Akshatha Hegde, ladies coordinator Vijaya Shetty, joint secretary Roshan Shetty on an inaugural procession along with other office-bearers of the Bunts Qatar, with traditional beating of drums. All the organizers were dressed in traditional attires.
Welcome dance choreographed by Akshaya was performed vibrantly by Shristi, Samiksha, Diya, Rachana, Priyanka, Sanvi, Dwiti and Shika. This was followed by the traditional lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries and guests.
There were a host of cultural events like songs, skit, group dances which gave the event a traditional touch and were liked and appreciated by everyone. The children had the audience engrossed with their talents. Small wonders danced to the tunes of Jai Ho choreographed by Akshatha, comprising Moksha, Diya, Kashvi, Samiya, Arnav, Abhiman, Nirvaan, Anvith and Dhruv. Young budding singers Sanjeet, Shristhi, Sanvi and Priyanka mesmerized the audience with beautiful Kannada numbers and Sathyam Shivam Sundaram. Sharath, Hemanth, Mahesh Bolar choreographed the number Desi Boys for Sarvad, Pranav, Prachet, Pratham, Sahil, Sanjeet, Srishanth and Ahaan. Chikni Chameli choregraphed by Sharmila was performed by Sharmila, Chaitali, Akshaya, Jevika, Nidhi and Akshatha. Girls' dance was choeroegraphed by Chaitali, dancers were Priyanka, Sanvi, Dwiti, Shika, Punya and Ashna. Young girls performed the Krishna dance choregraphed by Chaitali and performed by Shristi, Samiksha, Diya, Rachana and Krisha. The iceing on the cake was the Tulu comedy skit performed by Vijay Kumar Rai, Chandrashekar Shetty, Rajesh Shetty, Sandeep Rai, Praveen Shetty and Yashjith provided the backstage support.
The stage programme commenced with president Ravi Shetty extendig a warm welcome to all gathered for the evening. Amidst immense applause, chief guest Padma Bhushan Prof Dr B M Hegde rendered a thought provoking speech to the gathering. He emphasized that one should not give importance to money but authenticity, and that culture is what you do when no one is looking at you. "The philosophy of Bunts should be to do what you say," he stressed. He also asked the community to be friends with the local community and be grateful to them and to invite them to such events.
Dr Vishwanath Shetty briefed the audience about Dr Hegde after which he was felicitated by Bunts Qatar. Guests of honour Sarvotham Shetty and K D Shetty also spoke on the occasion and praised Bunts Qatar for their initiative in organizing this event and also congratulated them on their service to the community. Guests of honour K M Varghese, chairman, Advisory Panel, ICC, Sarvotham Shetty, and K D Shetty were felicitated with mementos by Bunts Qatar.
General secretary Navneeth Shetty presented the annual report to the gathering. To commemorate this memorable occasion a Souvenir ‘GARI’ was released by the chief guest. Souvenir committee Prakash Ajila, Ravi Shetty, Rammohan Rai, Deepak Shetty and Vijay Rai were invited to the dias for the release.
Outstanding Community Service Award for the year 2011-2012 was presented to Milan Arun for her contribution to the community in Qatar. Milan in her speech thanked the Bunts Community for giving her the honour.
Mementoes were presented to the community members who have extended their special contribution to Bunts Qatar. Recipients were Sandeep Shetty and Akshatha Hegde for the design of Bunts Qatar logo; N Manjunath, a prominent Kannada exponent from Karnataka Sangha Qatar for his community service in promoting Kannada language by sparing his valuable time and teaching Kannada to expartiate children; Dr Rajeeth for proposing the name "GARI" for Bunts Qatar Souvenir, community activist Iqbal Manna and Daijiworld for the media service to Bunts Qatar from its inception, Dhananjay Rai for his outstanding volunteer service, guest artistes Jagaraj Rai and Sowmya Bhat. All participants of the cultural programme were felicitated with mementoes for their performance during the event.
Cultural secretary Akshata Hegde proposed the vote of thanks. Orchestra team of Soumya and Jayraj sang some peppy Hindi and Kannada numbers that kept the audience entertained, and the evening concluded with sumptuous dinner organized by Bunts Qatar. All Bunts, friends and well-wishers from other community residing in Qatar participated and interacted joyously till midnight, and returned home fondly hoping that the legacy of the annual Qatar Bunts gathering continues. Such gathering not only revives Bunts' uniqueness but also preserves and promotes ethnic and enriching heritage of coastal Karnataka.
The committee members, under the able guidance of the President Ravi Shetty, have impeccably conducted and devoted all their efforts undauntedly towards the success of the event.
Presidents of Karnataka associations and prominent members of community Milan Arun, Iqbal Manna, Divakar Poojary, Ramachandra Shetty, Sunil D'Silva, Seethram Shetty, Munjunath Shetty, Deepak Shetty, Arun Kumar, Asmath Ali, Vivian D'Souza, community associations committee members and invited guests were present for the event.