Kannada Sangha Bahrain completes 4 decades

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“A life of togetherness is happy life” (Sangha Jeevana Sukha Jeevana (ಸಂಘ ಜೀವನ ಸುಖ ಜೀವನ)) is the motto of Kannada Sangha. The Club strives to bring its members a sense of belonging and a life of oneness in a foreign land. It helps to keep the cultural flame alive within each of its members while and also contributing to the Bahrain community.

Its achievement make more than 25,000 Kannadigas (people from Karnataka) on the Island and the entire 70 million Kannadigas proud.

Established in 1977, “Kannada Sangha Bahrain” is a popular name in the Kingdom of Bahrain due to its socio – cultural activities. Club is registered under Ministry of Social Affairs and very well acknowledged by the Ministry as well as The Embassy of India, Bahrain. Whether it is Cultural or sports activity in Bahrain, Club is a front runner and always kept the Karnataka flag flying high. Club won prestigious State Award “Rajyotsava Prashasti” in 2002 for its outstanding social and cultural activity outside Karnataka, India.

Yearly Mega Events for Kannadigas:

• Kannada Rajyotsava- Kannada Vaibhava (showcasing Kannada Culture and Arts)
• Vasantotsava (Dance and Music forms from Karnataka)
• Yakshagana (both in Tenku and Badagu style, recently, club organized “Gulf Yaksha Vaibhava”)
• Drama (in Kannada and Tulu language)
• Amara Madhura Geetegalu (musical extravaganza of old Kannada songs)
• Yoga Diwas (to mark International Yoga Day)

Competitions for Club members and their family:

• Drawing, Singing, Dance, Fancy dress, Prince and Princess etc. for children.
• Rangoli, Dance, Singing, Mr. & Mrs., Debate, Fancy Dress, Apoorva Dampatigalu Etc. for adults.
• Annual Indoor games and Outdoor sports
• Summer Indoor games

In house Programs for members and their family:

• Sri Satyanarayana Pooja
• Karaoke Singing
• Hasya lasya – Comedy show
• Personality Development for Youth
• Iftaar Koota
• Independence day and Republic Day Celebration
• Celebration of Indian Festivals like Dipawali, Eid, Christmas etc.
• Family Cricket Tournament
• Late Seetharam Bhatta memorial Darts Tournament
• Week end family games, Darts, Card games, Carrom etc.

Medical and Health oriented activities:

• Blood donation camp.
• Free medical camp
• Critical illness awareness programs like Cancer, Gynaecology etc.

Coaching Classes:

• Free Kannada Classes
• Free Yakshagana Classes
• Free Yoga coaching
• Dance Class (Classical)
• Dance Class (Cinematic)
• Personality Development (Gavel Club)

Dignitaries visited:

• Politicians such as B. S. Yedyurappa, Oscar Fernandese, Ramanath Rai, Pramod Madhwaraj, Shobha Karandlaje, Ramachandre Gowda, Nagaraj Shetty, Abhaychandra Jain, U. T. Khader, Dr. Jayamala, Late M. P. Prakash, Halady Srinivas Shetty, Moideen Bava, Ganesh Karnik, Gopal Bhandary, Shakuntala Shetty, Tejaswini, H. Hanumantaiah, Sunil Kumar etc.
• Authors and Poets like late U. R. Anantamoorthy, K. S. Nisar Ahmed, S. L. Bhairappa, Doddarange Gowda, Siddalingaiah, Siddaramaiah, Dundhiraaj, B. R. Lakshmana Rao, H. S. Venkateshmoorthy, Manu Baligar,Padmaraj Dandavati, Mallika Ghanti, Lalita Nayak, T. C. Poornima, Vishweshwar Bhat, Sandhya Pai, Manohar Prasad etc.
• Social and religious leaders like Dr. Veerendra Heggade, Edaneeru Swamiji, Odeyooru Swamiji, Renukananda Swamiji, Dr. B. M. Hegde, H. R. Nagendra, Harekala Hajabba etc.
• Sandalwood Celebrities like Dr. Rajkumar, Dr. Shivraj Kumar, Puneet Rajkumar, Ravichandran, Devaraj, Upendra, Jayamala, Ramesh Aravind, Digant, Aindrita Rai, Gurukiran, Prem, Ravishankar, etc.
• Intellectuals and Directors like T. S. Nagabharana, P. Sheshadri, Nagatihalli Chandrashekhar, T. N. Seetharam, Gireesh Kasaravalli etc,
• Actors like Master Hirannayyah, Yashwant Sirdeshpande, Kasargod Chinna, Jayashree Raj, Arun Sagar etc.
• Musicians like Kadri Gopalakrishna, Praveen Godkhindi, M. D. Pallavi and Arun, Ratnamala Prakash, B. R. Chaya, Anuradha Bhat, Ramesh Chandra, Ajay Warrier, Y. K. Muddukrishna etc.
• Morethan 100 Yakshagan artist both from Tenku and Badagu.
• Artist like Vilas Nayak, Shabari Ganiga etc.
• Classical and Cinematic dance performers, individual as well as groups.

Awards:

• Prestigious Karnataka State Award “Rajya Prashasthi” in 2002
• Alwa’s Nudisiri Award
• Horanada Kannadiga Samsthe award in Vishwa Samskruti Sammelana, held in Qatar
• Apart from these, Club has regularly participated and won many prizes in competitions organized by different Clubs in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Dream project – Kannada Bhavana

Kannada Sangha Bahrain is not just a club. It’s a community centre; a cultural arena; a home – a little Karnataka. For the last almost four decades the Sangha has provided solace to thousands of Kannadigas. They could come every day, spend time engaging in their hobbies/ friends.

With the increasing number of Kannadigas on the island; the need for more facilities; and the Sangha building aging, members felt an urgent need for a new building to house the Sangha and hence was born our dream project – Kannada Bhavana.

The project received a shot in the arm with the then Chief Minister Honourable B S Yediyurappa sanctioning Rs 1 Crore for the project. With all the formalities now over we are kick-starting the project.

The project, a first-of-its-kind, will be a cultural and research centre for all Kannadigas of Bahrain and also of entire Gulf.

Facilities

• The project will house a multi-purpose hall; classrooms for imparting training and tuition; offices; a gym; a full-fledged library; indoor sports facilities; a café lounge; and meeting rooms. With a view to making it a self-sustainable complex, we will also have some commercial space to rent out. The Ground plus three floor building hopes to meet the aspirations of the large Kannada community on the island.

Motherland touches every heart. Let’s join hands in building a piece of Karnataka on Bahrain.

Sisel Panayil Soman

COO, IndSamachar, Bahrain