Sixth Yuva Mahotsav at Bandora

Sandesh Prabhudesai
11 January 2001  



The sixth annual Goa Yuva Mahotsav of Konkani Bhasha Mandal will be organised at Nageshi-Bandora on 13 and 14 January this year, jointly in association with Antruz Lalitak from Bandora.

As this cultural festival of performing art is becoming more popular among village-level students and youth, the organisers have decided to hold it in one village every year, discontinuing the practice of organising it in Margao for the last five years.

Sudin Dhawalikar, the reception committee chairman and Marcaim MLA, said at a press conference today that youth from Nageshi-Bandora have taken the responsibility of organising the two-day festival on the occasion of silver jubilee year of Antruz Lalitak, one of the premier cultural institutions of the state.

The Mahotsav of residential nature will be inaugurated at the hands of Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister of Goa, at 10 am on Saturday, 13 January. Datta S Naik, veteran writer and social activist from Panaji as well as Nalini Tulshidas Mulwi, the local sarpanch, will be the guests of honour on the occasion.

Adv Ramarao Desai, the art and culture minister, will distribute prizes to the winners of the Mahotsav at the concluding ceremony, to be held on 14 January at 5 pm. young businessman and artist Rajendra Talak, senior folk artist Kanta Gaude and local panch Sukhanand Kurpaskar will also grace the occasion.

The campus of Shri Nagesh Devasthan, where the Mahotsav will be held, has been named after Goa's famous Sarangi player and musician Bhikaji Nageshkar. The Mahotsav will be held in three different areas, the main pandal of which will be named after another veteran dramatist Ravindra Namshikar.

While another auditorium will be called Narhari Volvoikar hall, remembering the legend of Bhajan and Theatre, yet another stage will be in remembrance of Selwyn, Dharmendra and Victor, the three musicians of famous pop star Remo's band, who died in a tragic accident last year.

Vijaykant Namshikar, the chief co-ordinator and president of Antruz Lalitak, informed that total 16 competitions would be held simultaneously at three to four different places. It includes folk dance and jugalbandi of traditional musical instruments in the category of folk; solo and trio singing and Konkani pop in musical category; street play, mime and 'Brekantar' of advertisements in theatre; 'Patekar' and 'Fatafat' in elocution and posters and rangoli in drawing.

To judge intelligence and memory, there would be a Quiz solely on Goa as well as another one for studious reader, besides a competition on preparing two-page newspaper. 'Mushtaiki', a unique competition, is the highlight of this Mahotsav, besides other entertainment programmes like Graffiti and Fish Pond.

The annual event of unique interviews would be conducted this year by noted writers Pundalik Narayan Naik and Ulhas Pai Raikar. Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president and MLA Nirmala Sawant, trade union leader Com. Christopher Fonseca and tiatrist Agonstinho Temudo are the invitees this year.

Around 2000 students and youth and 40 groups are expected to participate in this two-day Mahotsav while several veterans in the field of art, culture and literature would also attend it as the judges at different competitions.

Tally Solutions Pvt Ltd, the world-class leading accounting software company of Bangalore, has sponsored all the four first prizes for the best outstanding groups at the festival as well as the unique Quiz programme. The company will also provide its equipment and experts to prepare results of all the competitions immediately.

Besides this, overall winner will also be given a rolling trophy while winners of all the 16 different competitions will be given cash prizes, souvenirs and certificates.

Young artist. Nityanand Naik is elected the working president for the Mahotsav this year while Anju Khaunte is the Secretary. Damodar Mauzo, President of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal, is the ex-officio president of the Mahotsav. Manoj Bandodkar and Shridhar Kamat Bambolkar are the vice presidents.

Around 100 activists have been working tirelessly for the last two months under the leadership of Eknath Naik, who is heading the programmes committee, to make the event a success. Dhawalikar has also appealed to all the people to attend the prestigious Mahotsav in large numbers.

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