Victor Nobby Sequeira, Puttaraju, Ravi Karkera
Dammam, Dec 24: Mangalore Association Saudi Arabia (MASA) celebrated its 8th anniversary in a spectacular style recently with 'Gowji 2014'.
The Crystal Hall, Dammam was jam-packed with an enthusiastic crowd gathering to witness yet again another mega event of MASA, the 8th Annual Day, 'Gowji 2014’. The ceremony kicked off by welcoming the distinguished guests and members by the entertainment committee head Sathish Bajal. The events lined up for the evening were highlighted and briefed on by Satish Bajal.
The executive and advisory committee members were welcomed on to the dais. President Dayanand Shriyan along with executive committee members lit the ceremonial lamp. The annual report was presented by general secretary Naveen Bhandary. The achievements of MASA, various events conducted throughout the year, membership strength, charity details were the main points of the report. The main highlight of the report was the MASA financial aid towards the noble causes in the span of last eight years amounting to INR 70 lac.
The awards ceremony began with presenting mementos to member students in recognition of their academic excellence from grade 9 to 12 (scoring above 75% marks), graduates, post graduates and professional degree holders for the academic period 2013-2014, followed by special achievement awards to teens and adults of MASA. Awards were also presented to winners of internal cricket tournaments, sports day champions and food festival winners.
Twenty-two members were awarded for their dedicated services and 11 members for extraordinary services. Appreciation Award was given to Abdul Aziz Mohd Al Gattani for providing excellent hall facilities for the Annual Day. A special award, President Appreciation Award sponsored by the president Dayanand Shriyan was given to Nagaraj Bajal for his innovative talent, creativity in cultural events, being the architect of decorating all stalls during MASA food festival 'Authana 2014' and his commitment towards MASA. The unique attraction was when the married couples (MASA members) over 30 years were invited on to the stage and recognized with bouquets.
It was then time for the most awaited moment of the evening to declare the prestigious award, MASA Man of the Year 2014. The entire audience was eager to know who the Man of the Year was. A thunderous applause could be heard across the auditorium when the name of Usman Hosangadi was declared as MASA Man of the Year by Ravi Karkera. While introducing the MASA Man of the Year, Ravi Karkera explained about the dedication and commitment of Usman Hosangadi to MASA, terming him as ‘a silent worker, a gentle person whose action speaks louder than his voice, one who believes in the motto 'give respect and earn respect'.
"Simplicity is his strength and honesty is his premium. He has passion to work for noble causes. He delivers his duties diligently and quietly," Karkera said. A standing ovation was given by the entire audience as a mark of respect and appreciation on earning this prestigious honour.
Usman Hosangadi thanked MASA committee and all members for this honour and during his short address said that he feels proud to work for a model association like MASA which takes care of all communities irrespective of caste, creed and religion.
President Dayanand Shriyan addressed the gathering and expressed his heartily thanks to members for rendering dedicated services to MASA and sponsors for their generous support to the association. He thanked the committee for its meticulous planning and its implementation in conducting various events successfully under the professional guidance of Madhav Amin and Ravi Karkera. He emphasized on the commitment of MASA in fulfilling its main objectives, serving for the noble cause and at the same time focusing on up bringing the talents among MASA members, teens and adults. The president appreciated the great gesture of Joey Fernandes for declaring Scholarship Awards to 20 students under the name of his late parents Gerald and Theresa Fernandes for the students suffering with financial difficulties. He also mentioned the name of one of the pillars of MASA, Santosh Shetty for his continued contribution, support and services despite of being away from MASA. In conclusion Shriyan wished all members a pleasant and relaxed evening and welcomed them to witness the exciting cultural event and mega raffle draw.
Exciting and rocking cultural items were presented by the talented prize-winning MASA members. The events one after the other mesmerized the audience and everyone enjoyed the spectacular show by MASA artistes.
Bharatanatyam group dance (Al Khobar Junior Group) was presented by Siya Chowta, Anshika Kottara, Smrithi Shetty, Tvisha Shetty. Semi-classical solo dances were by Shradha Sathish and Smriti Sadanand. Gremsy Sequeira performed a filmy solo dance while a Filmy Retro Metro Group Dance was presented by Kudla Adventures Sub Jr Group, with choregraphy by Nagaraj Bajal. The team comprised Shreya Bajal, Verina D’Souza, Bhavya Pradeep, Shreya Arun, Shervin D’souza, Eshan Yashvant.
A Kannada semi-classical group dance (Kudla Adventures Jr, choreography by Nagaraj Bajal) was performed by Srinidhi Sathish, Kushi Ganesh, Prishitha Sadashiv, Prateeksha Niranjan, Viola D’sa, Yashmitha Yashvanth, Aishwarya Keshav (guest appearance: Nagaraj Bajal, Sandeep Bajal, Roopesh Suvarna and Naveen Kumar Salian). Western group dance (Mangaluru Rockers Al Khobar, choreographed by Rekha Rajesh Shetty and Parinitha Gopal Shetty) was performed by Disha Balakrishna, Shravya Harish, Arpitha Gopal, Aryan Rajesh, Nidha Parveen, Poorvi Gopal, Akanksha Rajesh, and Rekha Rajesh.
Western remix group dance was by Sharon Fernandes, Shalon Fernandes, Rishon Fernandes, Aaron D’Costa, Reanne Fernandes, Reydan Fernandes. A humorous Kannada filmy dance (Kudla Adventures Sr, choreographed by Nagaraj Bajal) was perfomed by Ravi Karkera, Nagaraj Bajal, Sunil D’souza, Suresh M J, Santhosh J D, Jagajeevan Karkera, Roopesh Suvarna and Naveen Kumar Salian.
Young Akanksha Shetty, Venesa Saldana and seniors Farooq Bunder, Sowjanya Srikumar, Dayanand Shriyan, Sunitha Shiryan and Yashwanth Sanil entertained the crowd with melodious numbers.
Before the dinner break, as a tradition of MASA, visiting parents were honoured with shawls and bouquets. Also, the 13th marriage anniversary of Sathish Bajal and Suchitra Sathish Bajal celebrated by cutting the cake and singing the song for the lovely couple.
Induction ceremony of new committee for the year 2015 and 2016 was held after the dinner break. This was conducted by Area 60 Governor, Toastmaster Vasudev Warrier and immediate past Area 60 Governor DTM Alex Philip in a professional way. The unique kind of induction ceremony created excitement among the audience. The installing officer TM Vasudev Warrier declared the names of new committee members led by Narendra Shetty as president. The new committee members took oath; all members present welcomed the new committee with a round of applause and agreed to support the new committee.
New committee for 2015-2016 installed as below:
Executive committee: Narendra Shetty (president), Sadashiv Poojary (vice-president), Vidyadhar Shetty (general secretary), Praveen Peter Aranha (treasurer), Mohammed Nooman and Sathish Bajal (joint secretaries), Gopal Shetty and Babu Kotebettu (joint treasurers).
Ex-com members: Ameer Hussain, Usman Hosangadi, Viraj Kumar Shetty, Dayanand Chowta, Edwin Martis, Ibrahim Khader, Puttaraju Halappa.
Advisory committee: Messrs. Madhav Amin, Ravi Karkera, Dayanand Shriyan, Ahmed Gulam Beary
Assessment committee: Babu Kotebettu (assessment committee head), Sadanand Poojary (deputy)
Members: Sharif Karkala, Naveen Bhandary, Chandrashekhar, Usman Hosangadi, Ameer Hussain, Joey Fernandes, management committee and advisory committee.
Internal auditors: Santhosh P Shetty and Sachin Hegde.
Media committee: Mohammed Nooman (media committee head), Puttaraju Halappa (deputy) Members: Nayaz Kaiser and Ibrahim Khadar.
Sports committee: Viraj Kumar Shetty (sports committee head), Ameer Hussain(deputy)
Members: Abdul Azeez Hussain, Abdul Kader Baikampady, Abdul Rahim Arkula, Ashraf Naushad Pollya, Bhaskar Kanchan, Chandrashekhar Karkera, H Sukumar Shetty, Harish Poojary, Imran Karkala, Naveen Shetty Khobar, Nayaz Kaiser, Nizamuddin Abdul Samad, Osmond D’Souza, Praveen D Shetty, Rajesh Suvarna, Ranjith Shetty, Riyaz Ahmed, Sachin Hegde, Saleem Puttur, Sandeep Shetty, Santhosh Kulal, Santhosh P Shetty, Shakib Ahmed, Sunil Shetty, Suresh M Jayanth, Vincent Saldana, Yoganand Achar.
Entertainment committee: Gopalkrishna Shetty (entertainment committee head), Dayanand Chowta (deputy)
Members: Arun D’souza, Bharat Kumar Mukka, Chandrashekhar, Chittaranjan Shetty, Ganesh Karkera, Jagajeevan Karkera, Mohidin Sheikh, Nagaraj Bajal, Naveen Kumar Salian, Nayaz Ahmed, Niranjan Karkera, Pradeep Kumar Kadekar, Prakash Sanil, Prakash Shetty, Rajesh Shetty KHO, Rajesh Thingalaya, Roopesh Suvarna, Sadanand Poojary, Sandeep Bajal, Sudarshan Sanil, Uday Sanil, Victor Sequeira, Vijay Naveen, Vishwanath Suvarna
The anchors for the event were Ravi Karkera, Naveen Bhandary, Narendra Shetty, Nayaz Kaiser, Sarita Peter Aranha (for award ceremony and cultural event), Victor Sequeira and Ibrahim Khadar (for raffle draw).
Main sponsors: Intermodal Services, Yogesh D Poojary (Sasp), Arabian Cargo, Al Manafa Transport Co, M M Amin & Co. Abdul Karim Holding Co.
Co-sponsors: Messrs. Dayanand Shriyan, Shankar Billava, Prabhakar Shetty, Sathish Bajal, Mohd Sharief Iqbal, Gopal Shetty & Group, Sanil Bros, Santhosh Shetty From Salalah Oman, Naveen Bhandary, Remi Lobo (Riyadh), Babu Kotebettu, Chandrashekar, Ahmed Gulam Beary & Group, Vincent Saldana, Ameer Husain, Sadanand Poojary, Pradeep Kadekar, Ibrahim of Sitco, Jaya Suvarna From Candle Light Pest Control, Ramesh Mendon, Vidyanathan, Naveen Shetty, Viraj Kumar Shetty, Elroy D’souza, Vidyadhar Shetty, Mohd Nooman, Bubbles Fashion Co Chennai, Richard Almeida(Kanoo), Jaya Verma, Salim Puttur, Vijay Naveen And Puttaraju.
Vote of thanks was presented by joint secretary Mohammed Nooman.
Raffle committee was led by Vidyadhar Shetty and Puttaraju. The team of young children were recognized for the excellent marketing of raffle tickets. Members were happy to take home from the lucky draws attractive prizes
Nagraj Bajal’s creation, ‘A Tribute to Women’ was a classic act by Kudla Adventures Team based depicting the issue of violence against women, which touched the hearts of the entire audience. The concept was unique, well narrated and presented beautifully by almost 60 participants.
The exciting and awesome evening concluded with the National Anthem and the audience returned home with sweet memories of MASA's 8th anniversary 'Gowji 2014'.