Bidar Utsav -2014
Bidar Utsav, of the fest to
celebrate the essence of Bidar was celebrated with joy on February 1, 2 and 3,
2014 in Bidar, Karnataka , India
The event proved that
proactive initiatives by the government can help promote tourism, apart from
quenching the people’s thirst for wholesome entertainment.
Run Up
Actually, the Bidar Utsav is
a month long event. The cultural programmes however, are organized on the last
three days of the Utsav.
Innovative methods were used
to publicise the event. A team of senior officials and Utsav committee members
visited villages to accord traditional welcomes to members of rural local
bodies and women’s groups. They also went around colleges to invite the youth
to perform at the event and watch it.
The run up included several
interesting programmes that included a career fair and a job fair. The first
one, Career Utsav, had experts from 12 disciplines introduce students to
various interesting courses and careers. Resource persons from the Indian Air Force,
Indian Railways, and private industries participated. Experts urged students to
choose a subject of their liking and not just follow popular trends.
Mahila Utsav
A two day fest for women was
held in the Rang Mandir, Jhira function hall and national college grounds.
Women and girls participated in sports, cultural events and fun games.
Sports
Events like lawn tennis were
held in the Bidar police tennis club. Shuttle badminton, Karate, and table
tennis were held in the district indoor stadium. Cricket, football, basket ball
and athletics were held in the Nehru stadium. Swimming competitions were held
in the district swimming pool that a pool of Olympic standards. A special
sports event was held for the physically disabled.
Over 300 girls and boys participated
in the cycling event. They started from Ambedkar circle, went to Lalbagh, at
the edge of the Khanapur reserve forest and returned.
Numbers
The numbers related to the
festival were impressive. Over two hundred thousand people attended the three
day event. Events like the marathon, inaugural procession, wrestling, kid zone,
and food stalls saw the highest attendance.
The job Utsav provided a
platform for employers interviewed young people and distributed job letters on
the spot, and selected some for training. In two days, 714 youth got offer
letters and 350 were selected for training. Over 4,500 had registered their
names.
Venues
Programmes were held in
several venues within the historic fort and outside.
Cultural programmes on the
main stage included Indian popular music, folk music and dances, and
performances by children.
Indian pop stars like Mika
Singh, Raghu Dixit, Javed Ali, Harshdeep Kaur and Guru Kiran enthralled the
audience with their songs. Teams also presented Indian classical music and
classical dance, folk dances and skits. A conscious decision was made to
provide opportunities on the main stage to local artists to perform.
Another venue was provided
to local artists and youngsters in the Zilla Rang Mandir. They presented a
bouquet of performances including songs, dances, folk art forms and one act
plays.
Photo exhibition
A photo exhibition was held
in memory of Gulam Muntaqa, senior photo journalist who died in 2013 front
gallery of the Royal Kitchen. Over 300 pictures taken by Mr Muntaqa and his
father Gulam Mustafa, who was police photographer, were on display. It covered
the pictorial news history of the district for over a century. Mr Mustafa’s
work included some photographs taken in the 1890s.
Mr Muntaqa held the distinction
of capturing images using a eight feet logn negative on his hand made circuit
camera. Three of his single frame, wide angle pictures that were taken from
long negatives were featured. There were also pictures of wildlife and nature
taken by some others.
Art camp
Around 22 artists from
across the state stayed in Bidar for four days and visited the monuments around
the city. They produced oil paintings on canvas and water colours. These were
exhibited in the Photo exhibition venue. Artists included big names like K. K
Makali, D. M Badiger, Kandan, Ashok G, and others.
Kite festival
Teams from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra participated in the Patang utsav
held at the Barud Khana grounds in the fort. Winning teams had kites that were
30 feet wide. Another winner strung 220 kites to the same string.
Youth had a day of outing at
the adventure sports events like para -sailing held in Shahapur on Hyderbad
road.
Kid zone was among the most popular
areas in the Bidar utsav. It had giant wheels, zorbin balls, merry go round,
inflatable platforms, dinasour rides and other attractions. They also took part
in fun games.
Food court
Around 100 stalls were put
up in the food court in front of the main stage. Visitors enjoyed various
flavours including fast food, Indian native cuisine and Chinese dishes.
A calligraphy exhibition was
held in the Interpretation centre campus. Women Self Help Group members trained
by the Siasat foundation in Hyderabad
Bidar Utsav will be long
remembered for the Mushayira or Urdu poetry recital organized on the second
day. Big names in Indian Urdu poetry took part. They spoke of love and war,
enlightenment and despair and contemporary politics.
A large gathering sat
through the five-hour-long mushaira from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. on Sunday. Poetry
lovers cheered the writers and encouraged them to read loudly.
Rahat Indori, film lyricist and popular Mushayira
personality, had the crowd on tenterhooks. Octogenarian Nida Fazli, Hina
Taimoori, Shabeena Adeeb, Mujaffar Hanfi and others recited poetry to loud
applause.
Other famous poets like
Waseem Barelvi, Gulzar Dehalvi, Iqbal Ashahar, Farhat Ehasas, `Popular’
Meerathi, Javed Musheeri, Sohail Lakhnavi, Saradar Ayagh, Habib Hashmi, Abdul
Wahid Bahar, Syed Lateff Khaleesh, Abdul Mukhtadir Taj
On February 1, Mr
Siddaramaiah Chief Minister of Karnataka, inaugurated the Bidar Utsav. He
promised to promote tourism in Bidar in a big way. He promised to release
matching grant funds to Bidar development in the light of the World Monument
Watch recognition. Ms Umashree, minister for Kannada and culture and other
dignitaries were present.
Hellen philon, author of the
books Silent Splendour and Religious and political monuments of Early Behmanis,
was the chief guest the valedictory function. She urged art lovers and civil
society members to strive to protect the rich culture and monuments of the Deccan . She described Bidar as among the most important
heritage cities of the country.
Member of Parliament N. Dharam
Singh, members of the legislative assembly and council were present.
P. C Jaffer, deputy
commissioner, Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh, Zilla Panchayat chief executive officer,
Sunil Panwar, deputy conservator of forests and others were present.
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