Mumbai: Grand Celebration Befitting Daijiworld's Ten Years of Journey
by Florine Roche
Pics by Dayananda Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network
Mumbai, Jan 13: The decennial celebrations of daijiworld.com were held at “inning hall” of Mumbai Cricket Association, in the presence of hundreds of fans and well-wishers of daijiworld.com who had come from different parts of India and abroad to be a part of this joyous occasion. It was a joyful celebration befitting the occasion of observing daijiworld.com’s completion of 10 fruitful years in the field of web journalism establishing its supremacy. One can call it a co-incidence as Ronald Colaco, who had inaugurated the website in Dubai in 2001, and the daijiworld weekly, was the chief guest at the decennial celebrations also.
The celebrations took off with Editor of daijiworld.com Walter Nandalike and Director Operations Melvyn Rodrigues escorting the guests to the dais. Ronald Colaco gave a rousing start to the celebrations by cutting the cake to formally inaugurate the celebrations.
In his welcome address Walter Nandalike recalled the initial years of struggle and the support and cooperation he received from his friends and well wishers. “When I started the website some of my friends and acquaintances had ridiculed me saying what this computer illiterate can do with a web portal. I am not saying they were wrong because my computer knowledge was nil. But all of you are aware that what happened after that is nothing but history”, he pointed out.
Chief guest Ronald Colaco in his address to the gathering congratulated daijiworld.com for establishing its supremacy in the field of web journalism. Congratulating daijiworld.com Ronald Colaco said, “Walter has achieved success at a young age. He took the risk and started the website and has created a history of sorts. Looking at the tremendous success it has achieved in a short period of 10 years and on knowing its aims and objectives and achievements I feel their achievements are commendable”.
“Media can make or bring down a government as we have seen. But now we have enough examples to show that with money everything is possible. Despite this, media has a major role in building and shaping a just society. Only media can pinpoint the wrong doings of the government and create awareness among the public. I am happy daijiworld continues to hold its supremacy in molding public opinion. A country like India which has constitutional democracy and which has multi-religion, languages, caste and ethnic groups, needs a strong media to keep it away from fundamentalism, corruption, scandals and other parochial and divisive forces”, he pointed out. .
He said initially daijiworld brought together Mangalorean community spread across the gulf and then over the years it has been reaching out to people irrespective of caste, community or religion. He said the web portal’s news is referred to by news agencies and channels the world over, which is a proof of its authenticity. “I wish daijiworld is able to achieve more glory in the days to come and I want to see its viewership swell to one million in the next few years”, Colaco stated.
Guest of honour Dayanand Pai also poured out his heart expressing his feelings in his mother tongue Konkani and he stressed on the importance of people contributing in their own way for the betterment of the society. He said, “I am not fit to be called a philanthropist. It is my duty to give back to the society from which I have benefited. Apart from money people can contribute to the society in their own way may be in by their skill, by service, social work, literature, art or any other form of service”, he remarked.
Stressing on the importance of media Dayananda Pai said a newspaper is like a mirror of the world. A newspaper or a journalist should be guided by four C’s in discharging his/her duties namely consciousness, credibility, creativity and context, so as to give authentic news and carry out their journalistic duties with the importance it deserves.
He also pointed out that achievement is a continuous process. Success should not be a destination. It should be a continuous journey and wished that daijiworld would carry on the success with the same devotion and zeal to achieve many milestones in the years to come.
To mark the decennial celebrations daijiworld.com has come out with a novel project m.daijiworld.com in which news and information can be accessed on handsets in the format of text and it was inaugurated by Dayananda Pai on this occasion amidst thunderous applause from the assembled guests.
Siraj Ahmed, Managing Director of In-land infrastructure Developers Pvt Ltd, who was also the guest of honour termed daijiworld.com editor Walter Nandalike as the ‘Pitamaha’ of web journalism. He said there was a time when people used to take coffee or tea to cheer them up while reading newspaper. “Today the situation has changed drastically and people read daijiworld to cheer them up. I begin my day by logging on to daijiworld”, he stated. He also pointed out that providing news faster has been the hallmark of daijiworld.com. Giving the example of news coverage of the tragic plane crash last May and the flood coverage of North Karnataka he said that daijiworld was the first one to come out with these news items at a lightening speed. He also lauded the efforts of daijiworld for its efforts for charity work to help people in distress in the form of campaigns it has carried out.
Grace Pinto, Director of Ryan Interntional group of schools said Walter Nandalike has been able to achieve success because he had a vision and he got this vision by the grace of god. She stated that to achieve success we need to have dedication, determination and also compassion. She said, “Daijiworld should not look back but look forward to attain greater heights with a steely resolve to assert its supremacy”.
The decennial celebrations were followed by the crowning ceremony of Hyssna Miss Daijiworld 2010 followed by a sumptuous and scrumptious dinner. Melvyn Rodrigues delivered the vote of thanks. The programme was compered by Leslie Rego.
Anjali Shetty crowned Miss Hyssna Daijiworld Photogenic 2010
Ending months of speculation and curiosity of thousands of daijiworld viewers, Ms Anjali Shetty was crowned Hyssna Miss Daijiworld 2010 by Miss India 2006 and former Miss Earth Amrita Patki in the presence of a large gathering of daijiworld fans who came from different parts of India and abroad to take part in the decennial celebrations of daijiworld.com. In a glittering ceremony held at ‘Inning Hall’ in Mumbai Cricket Association, Mumbai, Anjali Shetty beat two other finalists Rashmi Rebello (first runner up) and Monica D Souza (second runner up) to walk away with the coveted title and a cash prize of Rs. 50,000/-. Jean Colaco crowned the first runner up Rashmi Rebello and sponsor of the event Dorothy Pinto crowned the second runner-up Monica D Souza. Anjal Shetty had received 26,267 votes out of the total 99,601 votes polled from the viewers of daijiworld.com. The first runner up Rashmi Rebello had polled 14,990 votes whereas the second runner up Monica D Souza received 13,922 votes.
It may be recalled here that ten contestants out of more than 1200 aspirants who participated in the contest had qualified for the penultimate round. The finalists were selected by a panel of judges plus through public voting. With the results slated for today, naturally there was excitement all around. While the finalists were a little nervous, the assembled gathering was waiting with bated breath to know the winners and to give a grand finale to the Miss Daijiworld photogenic contest.
On winning the title an ecstatic Anjali Shetty said she is "on the top of the world" and feels proud and happy. First runner up Rashmi Rebello was honest and guarded in her remark when she said “I never expected a casual entry of mine to bring me this far. It is a wonderful platform for youngsters like us”. Monica D Souza thanked the organizers for giving an opportunity for youngsters like her through such a contest.
The bold and the beautiful Amrita Patki who oozes confidence, provided a dash of glamour to the crowning ceremony. Her very presence had an impact on the gathering. In her advice to the finalists she said “this is not the end. It is just a beginning. Be greedy and go ahead with full gusto”. She also added that ‘everyone has to do something in her/his own way for the community”, before adding ‘I too am a Konkani’, much to the surprise of .the people present.
The crowing process of Miss Daijiworld 2010 began with daijiworld Editor-in-Chief Walter Nandalike and Director Operations Melvyn Rodrigues escorting the guests to the dais. Sponsor of the photogenic contest Ronald Pinto and his wife Dorothy Pinto, Albert W D Souza, Chairman ALDEL Education Trust; Mumbai, Felix Lobo, NRI entrepreneur, Doha Qatar and Rohan Monteiro, Managing Director, Property Infra Tech India Pvt Ltd and Amritha Patki were the guests of honour for the crowing ceremony.
Ronald Pinto of Hysna International LLC said he is proud to be associated with daijiworld.com. He remarked that daijiworld.com has brought together people spread all over the world. “When I agreed to sponsor the event I did not know it would be received so well by the viewers of daijiworld. But the overwhelming response indicates the success of Miss Hyssna Daijiworld photogenic 2010. I wish in the days to come daijiworld.com works with the motto of ‘my site my life’ and achieves more laurels”, he stated.
Guest of honour Albert W D Souza, Chairman of ALDEL said that in the last ten years daijiworld has become a leading light to the entire world. He congratulated Walter Nandalike on the risk he took at a young age and for being successful.
Melita Pinto, winner of the first Miss Daijiworld photogenic contest in 2006 conducted the crowning ceremony programme and Leslie Rego compered the programme.
The event was supported by Falcon Offshore Services Pvt Ltd, Mumbai.