Report: Puttaraju Halappa
Dammam, Apr 26: Uniting its members again on Friday April 21, MASA delightfully held its annual food festival 'Oota 2017' in a grand style at Dammam 91. Yet again, MASA was at its scintillating best organizing the most awaited, delicious food festival for its members and the large holiday crowd who gathered and flocked to every stall to enjoy mouthwatering dishes.
An electrifying scene was set by the installation of 15 beautifully designed stalls. The MASA food festival 'Oota 2017' kicked off with the ribbon cutting by MASA president Sadashiv Poojary along with excom and advisory committee members at the podium. The president welcomed the large crowd of members and guests. General secretary, Mohammed Nooman introduced all the stall owners along with their stall names. Ravi Karkera, advisory committee member while addressing the gathering wished all guests and members to enjoy the food festival thoroughly.
Apart from the 12 food stalls, beauty cosmetic stall, pan stall, juke box and popular rings corner were the added attraction.
Following attractive stalls were at service:
1. Sheethal Pan Stall
2. Namma Ill’da Ruchi
3. Tammana
4. Chavadi
5. Karam Fedics
6. Season Six
7. Costal Bite
8. Mumbai Chat House
9. Mumbai Food Court
10. Grillzz & Kababzz
11. Namma Kudla
12. Tempting Bowlz & Glassezz
13. Good Livelihood Est (for cosmetics)
14. Rings Corner (for games)
15. MASA Juke Box (for entertainment)
Name it and you had it, a variety of specialties and delicacies from the south coast Mangalurean city was at display in the festival, along with some Mughlai, Tandoori and Arabic dishes, mouthwatering homemade food were at disposal. The better known Mangalurean gastronomy dishes were served, variety of Sukka items like Kori Sukka, Jenji Sukka, Marvayi Sukka, Prawns Sukka, Mutton Sukka etc. Rice items like Veg Pulao, Fried Rice, Veg Tali, Biriyani, Seme, Pundi, Gatti, Neer Dose, Gundadde, Idli, Pundi Marvai, etc. Different types of fish fry, fish curry, Puli Munchi special were at disposal. Grills, Kababs, Tikkas, Shawarma and many more items too were on sale. Pasta, Noodles, different kinds of Payasa, Custard, Fruit Salad, Ladoo, Kashi Halwa, Rasagulla, Ras Malai, Gulab Jamoon, and other sweets were added attractions. People deliciously enjoyed snack items such as Bhel Puri, Pani Puri, Dahi Batata Sev puri, Goli Baje, Biscuit Roti, Buns, Vada Pav, Dabeli, Tarayida Gatti, Charmuri and variety of cake items.
To beat the heat and quench the thirst, ice cream (Gadbad, Chocolate Dad, Chocobar, Candy, etc), Jalzeera, Majjige, Falooda, lassi, ice gola, water, juices, lime soda, slush, watermelon juice, lemon juice, tea, coffee etc were available.
The scenes at the stalls were boisterous with the aroma of galaxy foods from every corner bringing the crowd at their feet to flock the stalls soon after the inauguration.
The stall owners attracted customers towards their stalls by screaming on top of their voice with or without mic. Buoyed by the sumptuous offers from every stall the mood aggravated the spirits of people and suddenly you could see a bee hive at every corner which further engulfed the atmosphere.
People of all ages you could actually count and watch the young and old queuing up to either consume instantly or asking the stall owners to parcel the food for them. The decorative stalls and colorful cordon of chefs in adorable costumes was a treat to watch. The breezy day and the afternoon soaring temperature was a bit of hindrance but people dared the weather and cooled themselves with some lovely soft drinks available at all stalls. Some loving fresh juices squeezed from the blenders with some cool toppings was eye catching and soothing to the thirsty throats, some fabulous deserts was also the added treats. Each and every one enjoyed the moment to the fullest extent.
People also thoroughly enjoyed watching traditional ‘taraida katta’ led by specialists like Narendra Shetty, Gopal Shetty, Vishwanath Suvarna, Sathish Kumar, Jossy Fernandes and others which attracted huge crowds from all age groups. The final winner emerged with 21 bounties against single coconut was Vishwanath Suvarna and second place won by Narendra Shetty with 16 bounties.
The Rings Corner led by Ravi Karkera and team attracted by kids, teens and adults, spotting the target by throwing the ring on the desired pick was a huge success as everyone in the cordon tried their luck. People enjoyed a lot and generously contributed as the collections were allotted for a noble cause.
To have a festive feeling, guests and members earned attractive prizes through surprise announcements from the MASA counter. Some members entertained the audience by singing their favorite tracks at the Juke Box corner.
An atmosphere of carnival prevailed as buzz of cars waiting to park at any given opportunity for a slot to enjoy the afternoon.
As the evening progressed traditional tea break brought in organized games with some stalls offering discount sale and even free sale too for limited time.
Kudla Adventures Dammam group performed the special colorful street play (Dombarata) and tiger dance to entertain the crowd in the evening.
Young volunteers encouraged members and guests in buying MASA raffle tickets under the supervision of Puttaraju. 5 winners claimed attractive prizes.
The sponsors for this event were Messrs Joey Fernandes (Al Manafa Transport Services Company), Yogeesh Poojary (SASP Jubail), Intermodal Services SA, Ravi Karkera, Madhav Amin, Dayanand Shriyan, Sadashiv Poojary, Shankar Billava, Ganesh Karkera, Vishwanath Suvarna, Sunil Puthran, Sanil Brothers, Coastal Bite, Dammam Kitty Group, Good Livelihood Est, Grilzz & Kababzz, Mumbai Chat House & Tammana Group.
During the concluding ceremony, Ravi Karkera thanked and saluted Masa volunteers for their utmost dedication and strenuous work continuously for 12hours from previous night 11pm till morning 11 am in installing and decorating the stalls and the venue. Heartfelt thanks to Vidyadhar Shetty, Nagaraj Bajal, Gopal Shetty, Satish Bajal, Naveen Vijay, Ajith Kumar Kunder, Roopesh Suvarna, Yashraj Anchan, Rajesh Padubidre, Sandeep Bajal, Sohan, Rajesh Shetty, Praveen P. Aranha, Jayden Aranha & Aaryan Shetty. He also thanked all the Stall owners for their efforts and sponsors for their generous contributions.
President, Sadashiv Poojary also thanked and appreciated the efforts of MASA members, sponsors, stall owners and volunteers for gracing and supporting the event.
General secretary Mohammed Nooman specially thanked SASP, Star Scaffolding Company & Electricians for extending their generous support in setting wonderful stalls.
The most awaited and prestigious food festival ‘Oota 2017’ ended with lots of sweet memories to carry home and cherish for long time to come.