DAMMAM, Oct 28(Arab News): More than 10,000 Indian expatriates and their family members turned up at the King Fahd Amusement Park in Dammam at the weekend to celebrate India Day.
The main attractions during the massive celebrations were the pavilions set up to showcase different cultural aspects of India’s many states.
Of the two million Indians in the Kingdom, around 700,000 live and work in the Eastern Province cities of Dammam, Alkhobar, Jubail, Al-Hasa, Qatif, Hafr Al-Batin and Ras Tanura. In addition, many Indian families from Riyadh head to the Eastern Province during weekends to enjoy the picturesque beaches of Alkhobar and Jubail.
For a community that is scattered throughout the province, the India Day celebrations provided a good and unique opportunity to socialize, network and to understand little known cultural nuggets of their own country.
“The turnout was beyond expectations,” admitted Mirza Zaheer Baig, the key organizer who works as a scientist at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). “When we thought of organizing such an event, we never knew we would attract these many people. This only indicates the sense of camaraderie that exists among the members of the Indian community in the Eastern Province.”
T.P.M. Fazal, from Kerala, who played an instrumental role in bringing Indians of all shades together, promised to make India Day celebrations an annual event. “It is rare for Indians from Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan, Karnataka and other states to come together along with families for a day of fun.”
Managers at the park where the event was organized were overwhelmed by the large turnout and colorful extravaganza. “We have not had such a massive response to any event in our park in nearly 10 years,” said Abdul Rahman Alawi. “We would like to host such events in future as well.”
Among others, the presence of Dr. Omar Baghabra S. Al-Amoudi, dean of continuing education at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and Dr. Hifzur Rahman, cultural secretary at the Indian Embassy in Riyadh, added prestige to the event.
So impressed was Rahman by the cultural show, he promised to organize many more cultural events in the region. “Keeping in view the agreement that India and Saudi Arabia have signed to promote cultural activities between our two friendly countries, we have plans to bring in cultural troupes from India in the coming days. We only had Riyadh and Jeddah in mind. Now, however, we will add Dammam and Alkhobar to the list of cities where we will have these events,” he said.
These programs will be held in close conjunction with the New Delhi-based Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Rahman also promised to hold the annual mushaira of Indian poets in Dammam as well. “We have these poetry sessions in Riyadh and Jeddah every year. We will have it in Dammam as well,” he said, adding that there were a few glitches. “However, considering that these celebrations were being organized for the first time on such a big scale, we have to applaud every single person behind the organization of this event,” he said.
He appealed to the Indian community to continue the good work that they have been doing in the Kingdom all these years. “It is because of this hard work that Indians have earned a pride of place among the expatriate population in Saudi Arabia. We need to build on that trust and promote the good relations that exist between our two countries.”
Some of the well-known representatives of the Indian community were felicitated at the show. They included Dr. Jamil Ahmad Qureshy, E.K. Mohammed Shaffe, Anis Bakhsh, M.A. Hasnain, Shuja Mohammed Sheriff, Waheed Lateef, M. Maslehuddin, Shyamkumar Parashar, Hameeduddin Ahmed, Yunus Kazia, Hakeem M. Dowla, Suresh C. Pillai, Shirish Palkar, Rajendra Sharma, Ramdesh Deshpandey, Mohammed Quaiser and Firoz Ahmed.